Hide and Sheik
by DiggyDelena
Summary: They say you can win a war but still be defeated. Anyone who hasn't experienced war firsthand wouldn't understand such a sentiment. Even the best heroes of legend are not immune to the terrors of battle. Luckily, a little human contact can make a world of a difference. (Link x Sheik/Zelda as Sheik)
1. Part 1: Pain

**Part 1: Pain**

They say you can win a war but still be defeated. Anyone who hasn't experienced the physical, mental, and psychological consequences of war wouldn't understand such a sentiment. Warriors who've experienced the horrors firsthand however, would know exactly what the wording suggests. Even the best heroes of legend are not immune to the terrors of battle...

* * *

As the war to restore light to Hyrule continued on, the Hyrulian forces remained strong for the most part. Their princess was lost, and that left pain and emptiness in the hearts of the most devoted that could not easily be filled. But they also had something else...something that encouraged them to march forward and strode into the darkness head on like a beacon of hope and light.

They had _the Hero._

He was a hero of myth and legend, and though he was young to the eyes of any that rested on his handsome features, Link was the descendant of the lineage of all major heroes in Hyrule's history. This young man had the spirit of the Hero, the blood of a warrior, and the triforce of courage to prove it. For millennia the land had faced the deepest, darkest evils of the land and none could fight the death that loomed over these evils than the almighty Hero in green.

And now he was _here_ , fighting beside _them._ How could they fail with such a legendary support?

So despite the cold or heat, the injuries and loss, the pain and suffering of those less fortunate, the Hyrulian knights and allied forces marched on in the shadow of the _Hero's_ stride. They were all proud to become part of the legend and thusly turned a blind eye to all the dangers that plagued their foundation's mind and body.

All but one.

Shortly after the princess had vanished under the castle's siege, a dark stranger approached their forces. He called himself _Sheik_ , or so they had _assumed_ he was a _he_. It didn't take long for the mysterious warrior's voice and subtle curves of a feminine form to make the soldiers question the mysterious Sheikah's motives, history, and _gender_ until _she_ herself confirmed it _._ As one of the Sheikah long forgotten, this _individual_ had skill and speed that far surpassed Hyrule's best knights. Mysterious to a fault, Sheik kept herself hidden from nose to toe and refused answers to many a question thrown her way.

But…

Sheik had the all-seeing eye like that of the Sheikah symbol embroidering her chest but she seemed to keep her sights predominantly focused on one _individual_ in particular. It wouldn't come as a surprise then that the evening the Hyrulian forces set up camp on the edge of Faron woods and the _Hero_ of legend excused himself for the evening the mysterious Sheik kept a skeptical eye and followed him shortly after.

Link was very visibly _struggling_ to breath at all when she found him leaning on a tree beside his tent. She had suspected something was amiss when she watched the usually stoic Hero give a shaken smile before disappearing to his own devices. She'd narrowed her eyes at the way he held his left arm tightly to his side.

 _He'd been injured._

Now as she stood atop a tree silent as the night and completely unperceived to the Hero, she watched the man that was supposed to be leading the charge clutching his blood-soaked side and gasping for air with watery, shaken wheezes that spoke of grave danger.

Link kept his eyes tightly closed and tried to breathe through the pain but felt his shoulder and back ignite in flames as the attempted breath erupted in violent coughing from his chest. He was the _Hero._ He was not supposed to show weakness.

The sounds of the woods rang in his ears so loud and cacophonous he struggled to hear his own thoughts. The immense pressure on his side swelled in his chest and pressed into his lungs until he couldn't breathe.

He glanced for only an instant into his hands as he coughed and saw dark red splotches of blood on his gloves.

 _He was dying._ He was sure of it.

Sheik stood with startled eyes as the man in green took one shaken step towards the tent and then collapsed to the ground.

She reacted instantly. Moving the wind, Sheik landed next to Link's wheezing body before she even felt herself leave the tree branch she'd been perched on. Link's wide blue eyes franticly shifted from her face to the sky above. He gasped short, badly grasped breaths and tried to breath through another coughing fit.

Blood reddened the edge of his lips.

Sheik's eyes widened at the severity of the man before her. Link's skin was beginning to lose the healthy pink hue and turn blue. The vein in his neck swelled as his struggled to breath. She could hear his heart struggle to pump in his chest.

Her hands ripped at his tunic without any further thought and she froze at the amount of blood and purple coloring she found on what should have been pale, smooth skin of his ribs.

Link's eyes caught her just as he'd grasped on her arms, and then his world went black.

* * *

She'd almost died of fright when he lost consciousness. Sheik had watched Hyrule's hero clinging to life with his last breaths and then grab her arm in desperation just before his eyes rolled back and his heart stopped in his chest.

She shuddered and closed her eyes as a deep and shaken breath pushed back the memories.

Hero or not, he was not _invincible_ , nor was he _immortal_. If she hadn't been there...if she hadn't noticed his suspicious movements and followed him to his campsite…

She swallowed the growing swell in her throat and felt her throat burn just as the thought.

 _They almost lost him._

Link gasped beside Sheik's pensive thoughts and she snapped her attention to her healing companion in time to witness another violent fit of coughing erupt from his chest. She saw what was happening and immediately grabbed a pail from the corner of the room, moving it beside her Hero just in time to catch him as he wretched the inner contents of his stomach and dried blood that had healed in his throat.

The camp echoed with the sound of his sickening spills, but she held the pail close despite the view, and stench, and horrific sounds of the Hero of Hyrule vomiting like a drunken knight after an evening in town.

But she _didn't_ leave him.

It took several minutes, but once Link's body had ceased its violent shakes and his chest relaxed enough to breathe more normally, he lifted his head from the bucket to acknowledge the person assisting him.

Blue eyes met the mysterious red he'd only vaguely remembered being in his presence. Neither of the pair spoke a word, but for a long moment their eyes stayed locked and entire conversation was spoken between their eyes.

 _Thank you._

Link flopped back against his lumpy bedroll, took one long, shaky breath and then let the darkness of the night swallow him once more.

* * *

There was a brutal downpour when the Hero re-awakened the following afternoon. The light outside was dark but he could sense it was mid day by the way his head throbbed from sleeping too long and the angry buckling and popping of joints in his body after remaining motionless too long.

"You should stay resting, _Hero,_ " a familiar _feminine_ voice rose from the shadows on the far side of the small tent. Link glanced to the corner in the direction of the voice and starred for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the darkness before making out the shape of a familiar person watching over him.

He tried to sit up and made it about halfway before a radiating, unbearable _fire_ erupted from his left side and his shut his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth at the pain.

"Hero or not, you should realize you are neither _immortal_ nor _invincible,"_ the voice spoke again. Link kept his eyes tightly closed as he clutched at his burning side and didn't even hear Sheik's footsteps until a hand pressed against his and a cool sensation radiated over his burning flesh until the pain subsided to only a dull ache.

When Link opened his eyes again, Sheik was uncorking a small vial of red oil.

"Drink."

He glanced at the small bottle skeptically but didn't move to take it.

"If I wanted to harm you, _Hero,_ I would have let you die from your injuries two days ago.

 _Two days?_

Link's eyes widened realizing he'd missed an entire two days already.

"It's a red potion, just drink it." Sheik pushed the vial into the Hero's hand before he could protest. His mind was still reeling from the idea of _two full days_ had passed. He glanced at the vial again, then at the woman watching him with a patient stare before finally giving in.

The red potion burned the inside of his throat as he swallowed it in one and he coughed in violent spasms as his throat set aflame.

"You're throat is raw from the sickness that you acquired after ignoring your injuries," Sheik told him through the coughing without a change in tone or voice. Link coughed a moment longer and then felt the burning flame die down to a low warmth before he realized _the pain was gone._

He reopened his eyes as found that Sheik had navigated to a large leather bag in the corner of the room again.

Link tried to speak a raspy _thank you_ but found his voice to have the texture of dust that came from his throat dry and formless like a cloud.

"You almost died," SHeik spoke again. She watched him from the corner of the tent with piercing red eyes that though usually unnerving had somehow changed since the last time Link had glanced at them. "When I watched you go back to your tent that night, you were barely breathing and bleeding profusely. You collapsed from lack of air and your heart nearly gave out only moments later."

Link swallowed thickly, recalling the last memory he had of fire burning at his shoulder and chest and familiar red eyes covering the sky just before his world went black.

"You should have said something."

" _And how would that have looked?"_ Link finally managed to speak with a raspy, dry voice. He couldn't really see from his bedroll, but something in his chest told him Sheik was _scowling_ at him in disbelief. "I'm supposed to be _the Hero_ ; I'm supposed to be the leader they look up to and follow into victory. My own blood has promised to bring light to the darkness plaguing Hyrule, and I was _hurt_ in battle." He stared at her directly. "How do you think our warriors would see me then after witnessing my weakness?"

She didn't say a word.

"Impa was clear about the role I play in all of this…" he had more to say but the woman cut him off.

"Impa's judgement may be well intended but she is flawed on occasion."

Link had to narrow his eyes, sensing the strangeness amis with her words. "You speak as if you know her personally."

Once more, she was quiet.

It was at this time that Link decided to test his boundaries and rise from his bedroll. The room spun slightly as he stood, and he stumbled forward a bit - causing the Sheikah to almost lunge to his assistance before he motioned for her not to - before gathering his foot.

His bones groaned and joints cracked after staying dormant and horizontal for so long, but it also felt _invigorating_ to finally stand on his own. He stretched his arms and groaned loudly feeling his muscles stretch and joints uncling from their positions.

"Much bet…" Link had turned to the woman who moments ago had been sitting in the corner of the tent waiting for him but found an empty stool instead. A green tunic folded neatly and washed clean rested on top of the stool as if awaiting his dressing.

Link noticed the white stitches that hadn't been there before and raised a golden brow.

 _It had been mended._


	2. Part 2: Anger

**Part 2: Anger**

It would be several weeks before Link had a moment alone with the young Sheikah woman again. The last time he had been in her presence alone he'd been war beaten and sickly _physically._ This second time he'd found himself in her presence, the war had taken a much darker turn _psychologically._

* * *

The day had started like many. Spirits were high, Impa gave a quick pep talk, they'd praised the Goddess for her blessings and protection, then they'd followed their _Hero_ into the battlefield. And it seemed to run fairly well. They had taken several keeps. Spirits were high, victory bubbled in their minds and hearts.

 _They would be victorious today!_

And then it had happened.

The Sorceress of Darkness summoned something much more vile than ever before and even the Hero himself was unprepared for what was going to happen.

A dark mist began to seep out of the earth. They feared it was poison, so the warriors all ran for safety in attempts to escape the death they had assumed the fog brought forth.

But the fog had a different poison entirely. It wasn't one that damaged their bodies or poisoned their flesh; it was a fog that poisoned their hearts and destroyed their minds. It turned the Hylian forces against each other.

No one was quite certain how, or _why,_ but one moment the Hyrulian forces were fighting victoriously against the monsters that Cia reigned over and the next half their force fought against them for no rhyme or reason told.

Friends fought friends.

Brothers slayed brothers.

Hylians that had known each other longer than they'd known their wives and children tore down their comrades as if they suddenly mistook them for the enemy. And no one knew why.

No one shy of the _Hero._

The dark truth was that Link was in the presence of the sorceress when she had cast her spell. He'd been too preoccupied with fighting her off himself - something he'd been warned of doing without his troops - and hadn't taken her threats to heart. She'd laughed and toyed with him, putting up a fight for him and a game for herself.

And then she'd vanished.

Link hadn't quite understood the severity of the sorceress's threats until he had returned to his troops and found a majority of them gravely injured or dead all together. The horror he saw with his own two eyes when he found Impa and Sheik and the remaining of his small army was one that would haunt his mind for the rest of his life.

Link's head buzzed with something profoundly unsettling as he retreated to his tent that night. The camp was quiet - even for that late hour - and he didn't want to think of _why_ because he was well aware of the answer and didn't _dare_ remember it.

 _Half the camp was gone, fallen on the battlefield in a number too great to even bring their bodies back for burial._

He pressed his eyes closed and felt his throat constrict and swell with the thought of it all. Even in the blackness of the dark night, he couldn't shake the images and thoughts from his mind to find the rest his body so craved.

 _This was war._ He'd trained for it. He'd lived his entire life waiting to be a knight, dreaming of serving the royal court. His father had been a knight, and the his father before him, and his fathers before him. He knew war brought loss and death and he had to stay cold and distant from all the horrors so that he could wake again in the morning to serve Hyrule.

But…

Link grunted loudly in annoyance and turned onto his back, now staring at the faint glow of the moon that shined through the thick canvas of his tent. He wouldn't cry, he couldn't. He wouldn't put into words the thoughts that came to his mind. But he could still see their faces - not those of the ones that had betrayed them, but the faces of those that _were_ betrayed.

Knowing sleep wasn't going to come to him that evening and rest was about as likely as Hylia herself descending to the earth to stop the war, Link game up on the endeavor for the time being and rose to a sitting position with a loud and annoyed grunt.

He couldn't stay in this dark, enclosed space. It felt suffocating and too much like a tomb thinking about the day. Link quickly rose to his feet, threw on a plain undershirt and his boots and waltzed out of his tent with a goal in mind: _clarity._

The cool grass crunched under his feet and air buzzed with the sound of various insects and slithering lizards and perhaps what may have sounded like an owl off in the distance. Link didn't necessarily have a conscious location in mind, but walked off in the direction where he bathed earlier that evening. Perhaps a calm body of water could remind him of the lake back home and the simpler pleasures he'd enjoyed prior to being named 'the Hero of Hyrule' and embarking on this massive war that plagued the land. He approached the serenity of the quiet space and immediately felt some sense of relief lift the immeasurable weight that had continued accumulating on his shoulders.

But it wasn't enough to completely ease the anger in his heart. He looked out on the moon's reflection in the water and saw the eyes of all his comrades he'd lost today staring back at him. Their voices echoed in his head and memories stained his mind with reminders of his own defeat.

He probably would have sat there the rest of the night if he had been left undisturbed. But not soon after sitting on the grass to reflect on his own shortcomings that day, he'd heard a branch snapping above him and he immediately leapt to his feet with deadly focused mind. His left hand reached for the blade across his back, tight fingers clasped around the well worn grip and waited to see what would attack.

"Always on guard, Hero?" A familiar voice wafted from above and Link turned his eyes to the source of the voice to find Sheik perched on a large tree branch, legs hanging off the side and eyes facing over the lake. There was something inherently different about her tonight, however. The usually graceful, poised, leathally elegant Sheikah didn't sit tall and straight with elegance and cat-like lines and movements. She'd looked instead tired and ragged with the weight of the world pressing down on his crooked shoulders and hunched spine.

Perhaps this was her way of grieving too.

"You should go back to your tent," she told him with a low tone in her voice that teased and prodded at his already bubbling temper. It flared a tendril of white hot anger inside him. Link attempted to push the comment aside and return to his own attempts at search for peace, but it would appear that the young Sheikah woman was ready for one more fight that evening. "You'll need your beauty sleep to…"

"Fuck you." The words spewed from Link's lips before he'd even registered what he was saying. Yet, once they'd left his mouth, he didn't regret them. If anything, the outburst had released a small fragment of pressure building in his chest.

The glare he immediately received did not need light or the rest of Sheik's face exposed for the legendary _Hero_ to decipher. Link starred back, hard lines and harsh lights and shadows cast by the moon shining above turned his usually handsome face dark, tortured, and fragmented. In fact, his expression and appearance reflected his spirit within perfectly.

He watched Sheik with deadly accuracy as she shifted over the branch a step and then jumped to the floor with unmatched elegance. She landed on the grass with such a light step any well-minded man would actually wonder if the woman had cat genes in her. She approached him slowly with a fluidity to her step that was not atypical for the Sheikah warrior but impressive and mesmerizing all the same.

"Say it again," she demanded as she approached closer until standing only a hair's length from his chest. Link wasn't sure if he'd ever stood so close to the woman before, but if he had, he certainly hadn't noticed her impressive height quite so uploce before.

If Link had been a smart man then, he would have realized much sooner that this wasn't an argument meant to label him as victor. But clear thoughts were low on his mind at that time and so he simply stared at her with ice in his eyes and lips sharp enough to slice through flesh. He didn't spoken again, his oddly uncommon anger and rage all ready to boil and spatter out in this moment. He'd expected the woman to say something else - give him a reason to despise her and prove Impa's suspicion. Instead she'd only locked unblinking eyes with him.

"Say...it…" she pronounced each syllable carefully and slow for an extra emphasis. "Again." Her eyes bore into his with an intensity that could smite lesson Hylians in their spot.

 _If she wanted to hear it again, so be it._

"Fuck you." Sheik's lightning fast reflexes reacted before Link even registered her movement. The side of his face exploded with the force of a perfectly planned slap that burst into explosive heat from the edge of his ear drum to the corner of his eye with a loud and unprepared-for 'crack.'

He stumbled two steps backward with a look that finally showed emotion: shock. Sheik's chest rose and fell with the hatred inside her. Sheikah were supposed to stay separated from their emotions and hard as steal no matter the situation. The woman glaring with the wish of death before Link at the moment was not meeting the extremely precise Sheikah standards, though.

"Do you think because you are the Hero that you are the only one to blame for the deaths today?" Her voice was ice cold and sharp as a fine blade. "Do you think their blood is only on your hands?" She took two steps forward until her nose was only an inch from his. Link had never noticed how tall this woman was until now as she stood perfectly eye level to him.

Link did not speak, attention completely captivated on the words she spoke and look of deadly precision in her red eyes. She was so close, he could smell the mint on her breath and see the dark shadows of sleeplessness on his skin.

"Do not mistake my dedication for a icy heart, Hero."

She turned on her heel as silently as the night and vanished towards her campsite. Link stood in his spot several minutes looking in the direction in which Sheik had vanished replaying their heated argument in his head before finally trudging back towards his own tent.

Now as he lay in his bedroll more than an hour later, all he could do was replay the altercation with Sheik in head, all the things he'd reacted badly too, and dwell on how much of the mess was entirely his doing.

He made a loud and disgruntled noise in the black tent space.

He needed something to refocus his mind. He needed something to refocus his attention and give him the feelings of release he so desperately desired. He needed _companionship._

The last thought struck him blind much like the sharp slap of Sheik's hand.

Companionship? He wanted a woman?

He did. But not just a woman to fulfill his empty-hearted sexual desires. He wanted the company of a body close, the feel of someone's warmth near him, and a voice to hear besides his own. He wanted a conversation and to know he wouldn't sleep alone. He knew many knights sent off to war frequented the shadier corners of their frequent stops and paid heavy fees for rented company. He'd frowned on in, repulsed by the very thought of _using_ another human like that for your own selfish needs.

But...

The nearly empty tent echoed with the sound of his over-exaggerated sigh.

 _It certainly wouldn't hurt on a night like this._


	3. Part 3: Healing

**Part 3: Healing**

The sound of Link's tent flap opening grabbed his attention and he bolted up in an immediate, defensive stance.

"You're safe, _Hero_ ," her familiar voice wafted over before the sound of his tent flap being tied closed reached his ears.

Link starred in the direction of her voice but barely made out her outline in the darkness. He heard her take a step forward and then pause. Silence followed.

 _Was she watching him?_

"I know at the moment I may be the last person you care to find in your company, but..." she started with a voice so low it was almost a whisper carried on a breeze. She inhaled deeply and Link heard the sound so clearly he almost imagined her warm breath against his cheek. "...I'm finding it very difficult to keep the images of all we've lost today out of my mind."

Link's eyes were adjusting now and he was beginning to make out more defined features of a female body, a long braid, and…

He squinted to try and test his eyes that were _surely_ deceiving him.

They weren't. Sheik wasn't wearing her usual Sheikah attire. She came to him instead with a cloth covering most of her face from what he could tell, a wrap covering her hair, and she appeared to only be dressed in a simple shirt and cotton trousers. He suspected he knew what that signified immediately.

"If you came here to have sex with _the Hero_ , he is uninterested in your company tonight." Link's voice was harsh and sharp and bit at Sheik's skin like a blunt knife.

She deserved it, though. She'd slapped him, treated him like a soul-less mascot and not as a living, breathing human being with thoughts and feelings like she.

Like herself? No, Sheikah were not supposed to show emotion.

"I'd recommend you make your exit unless you plan to spend the remaining hours of your night standing in the middle of my tent." To prove his point he turned in bed to face the canvas wall and turned his back to the woman in his presence.

She didn't move, however. Link waited what felt like several long moments for the sound of her exit but it never came.

"I don't know what you want but-"

" _You,"_ she cut him off before he could finish the empty threat and the shock of her word choice silenced him immediately. Sheik's voice wasn't iron-clad or unwavering or even commanding and cold as he was so accustomed to hearing. In fact, there was a _weakness_ in her voice, like a tremble that warned of something dark and sinister plaguing her heart, and something strangely familiar he couldn't quite decipher why. She sounded not like a warrior in that one small word, but like a _woman_ needing comforting to push away the darkness in her heart.

Link felt his heart beat in his ears. _You._

He turned back to face her and sat up when the word finally registered. He caught her shape just in time to watch Sheik's dark outline moving closer. The metal legs that held up his bedroll groaned in protest but supported his abuse nonetheless.

"I'm not asking because I expect _anything_ from the hero." She was close enough to him now that her legs pressed against the edge of his mobil bedding. "I'm asking you because today half my people died before my eyes, and I don't..." finally, her voice cracked.

Link felt a pull on his heart. It wasn't a pull of pity or one of sympathy. It was a pull that reminded him he was experiencing a lot of pent of pain and loss he wouldn't let released.

But maybe it would benefit everyone if he did. _She_ was willing. Goddess knew he'd noticed her feminine curves and mile-long legs more than once, and he couldn't think of a healthier way to release the tension in him.

Sheik shifted, taking a small step back. Link still couldn't make out any real details but the glow of light from above gave just enough sight for him to know she'd started to retreat and turn to leave. She took another two steps before he finally moved.

With a loud and ungraceful creak of the metal legs beneath his bedroll, Link climbed up and out of his bed and he reached for her hand just as she was turning to leave.

He couldn't tell if she was looking at him or not because her features were hidden in the darkness. He moved closer to her until his chest pressed against hers and he could hear her inhale a shaky breath but not speak.

"I can't kiss you if you keep your face covered." His hand hovered over her cheek, fingers just grazing the edge of the thin fabric covering her face. Link couldn't see her eyes, but the closer he moved the more he heard her breath harden. Sheik reached up and placed her hand over Link's. She trembled where she touched him, but they both understood the permission she was granting him.

 _Take it off._

Looping one finger under the fabric Link slowly pulled her mask down until he could feel her breath shallow and waiting for his move.

 _Kiss me._

Skin pressed against her forehead and wisps of hair brushed her cheek and she felt her eyes flutter closed on their own accord. Just as Sheik thought he would abandon her, Link finally pressed his lips against hers.

There was a magic that burst the moment they touched. It started as a glow from their kiss that coursed through her veins and spread over Sheik's skin to her fingertips, toes, and tips of her hair. A blinding white heat burned deep in her core and left her breathless enough that she shook from the magic of it.

Link either didn't feel it, or didn't care because instead of separating himself he took the moment of Sheik's stillness to wrap strong arms tightly against her waist and pull her tight against his chest. She responded with a gasp at the brazen move wrapped her arms around Link's neck pulling him in to deepen the kiss.

Link smirked - or so it _felt_ like he was smirking the way his lips moved against hers. A hot tongue slid over Sheik's bottom lip. She knew what he wanted because she wanted it too. She parted her lips and like the adventurer he was, he explored her mouth the moment he was granted access.

She found herself lost in the intoxicating taste of him, and it made her dizzy with the sensations that coursed through her body all at once. She couldn't get enough of his taste, his smell, or the sensual feel of his tongue wrestling with hers. When she began to feel light headed from lack of air and gasped loudly for a breath, Link took the opportunity to pull her bottom lip between his teeth.

A tremble of powerful, primal _need_ rippled up her spine erupting in gooseflesh on every inch of skin.

Meanwhile Link was completely captivated in the animal like whines and noises of appreciation he was eliciting from the usually powerful, iron-clad _warrior_ in front of him. He bit down on her lip once more and felt her entire body shake with lust.

 _She enjoyed it._

A devious thought came to mind when Sheik's hands dug deeper into the rough skin behind his neck and Link took the opportunity of her pulling back for a breath of air to bring his mouth to her ear.

His tongue darted out and ran along the pointed shell of cartilage and skin and he felt her entire body shake.

"Goddess, _yes…"_ her breathy moan brought a heat to his blood he hadn't felt prior.

He wanted to touch her — all of her. Every inch of unmarked territory of her miraculous body even if wouldn't be able to _see_ it.

But when he tried to kiss her neck he found layers of fabric that impeded his mission and Link growled as he tried to pull it away to no avail when he was countered with Sheik's very precise tying abilities.

She laughed at feeling his frustration and the sound was something unexpectedly _musical_ and _feminine._

" _Here,"_ she whispered with her lips hovering over his. She breathed him in through her mouth and felt him absorb it like it was some divine gift. " _Let me…"_

Her fingers let his skin for only a minute to undo the knots securing her garb and as soon as Link felt the fabric shift he pulled it off in one strong tug and threw it behind him.

"I'm going to need that when the light rises," she tried to admonish him with a playfulness but Link had already scraped his teeth against the tender, unmarked flesh of her neck and it made her entire mind go blank.

His arms fell lower down her back to just below her bum and although Link couldn't see it in the dark, her eyes _glittered_ with the meaning behind his touch.

"But right now you don't." All at once he pulled her up with strong arms of lean muscle and toned skin that hoisted her like she weighed nothing at all. Her legs wrapped tightly around his hips without even needing prompting, heels digging into Link's lower back as he held her up.

In truth, she actually _didn't_ weigh much of anything at all, a fact that had even surprised the _Hero_ given the obvious _strength_ she demonstrated daily. It only took a moment to take her to the makeshift bed, and then they were both on the noise metal legs, Sheik's legs still wrapped tightly around link's waist like wraps binding her to him and Link's impressive weight on top of her body, providing a delicious pressure she so craved.

He kissed her neck and she hummed, he lowered his lips down the collar of her sleeping shirt and she _purred._

"You best start undressing me, _Hero,_ or we'll never get to the good part."

Link made a noise something like a growl that grew from his chest but his hands fell down to the hem of her shirt at the same time that one flexible foot hooked a big toe under his shirt and tugged up. Link pulled the fabric up just as he pressed his lips against her stomach and felt it quiver under his touch. As soon as that shirt was deposited on the floor, Sheik made quick haste of his as well.

Link didn't know what to expect from the woman beneath him. Everything he knew about her was secrets, sharp lines, perfectly fit suits and armor and a flexibility that would make any man drool over…and now as his hands trailed over smooth, bare skin it felt like he were exploring an entirely different person. His fingers ran over the soft underside of a breast and she inhaled sharply when a thumb grazed one pert nipple that shriveled under his delicate touch.

 _She didn't wear any undergarments to bed, apparently._

He lowered his lips to her flesh and tweaked the hard bud again between thumb and forefinger and felt her stomach wave under his mouth. _He wished he could see her now, squirming under his touch._

His attention was broken when lithe fingers found the edge of his trousers and he forgot to breathe a moment when warm fingers sunk in to explore unmarked territory.

"In a hurry, aren't we?" He teases her with a full-palm squeeze of her breast and Sheik made a new noise entirely.

"Just fuck me." Her request was blunt and clear so he quickly redirected his mission to exactly that. " _Please."_

He sat up, slightly breathless but with a whole new spirit raging inside him and Sheik wasted no time in taking advantage of the opportunity to pull the waistband of his sleeping trousers down just past his ass before they pooled at his knees. Link left the bed for only a moment to full discard his garment at which time the woman awaiting him completely finished undressing herself in record speed.

Link climbed over her without further invitation and almost praised the goddess herself when Sheik not only spread her knees with fluid ease, but wrapped one elegant leg so high up his back that she nearly combed his hair with her foot.

" _Show off,_ " he muttered roughly as his mouth found the peak he'd just toyed with. Sheik's body arched off the bedroom with a loud and unsettling screech from the frame below.

He wanted to see her face though. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but not enough that he could see more that a glimmer here and glimmer there and…

Link's eyes trained in on his left hand anchored just to the side of her head and interlaced with hers. The triangular marking just above his wrist glowed in the darkness. It did that often enough recently, but what really grabbed his attention was the mirror image of the same marking glowing on _hers._ It made him think of something he had to remember to investigate at a later time.

"Are you going to fuck me or just wait for me to do all the work myself?" Her taunting voice rolled over his ears like a _dare_.

"Play nice," he muttered low against her skin. His tongue dipped into her navel and he felt her flinch before he progressed further north and grazed her nipple first with his nose, and then the flat of his tongue. "The nicer you play, the gentler I'll be." Link sucked the tight bud between his lips for a second before releasing it with a loud, wet, ' _pop.'_

Knew full well what he was doing to her, and none of it was on accident.

"What if…" her voice shook when he found the other breast desperate for attention. "What if I don't want it _gentle?"_

It took more restraint in Link not to curl his toes and moan at the thought than he cared to admit. He responded by closing his teeth roughly on the sensitive nipple.

Sheik's entire body arched like a graceful bridge and the tent echoed with the puns of her loud moan.

 _If she didn't want it gentle, he's be happy to oblige._

In one quick movement he released her left hand and dragged it down her body. A quick _slap_ on her outer thigh gained an excited _squeak_ from the Sheikah before he found her mouth again and absorbed her in a hungry kiss like he were a starving man tasting his first desert in _years._

"That was for earlier."

His hand traveled over her thigh as he felt her lose herself in his kiss and without warning rubbed roughly between her moist inner thighs before burying two long fingers deep within her body.

Sheik cried out into his mouth as he probed her with his digits and her nails dug so deep into his back he almost forgot to breathe.

"Is this better?" He teased her without leaving her mouth as he begun the rhythmic movement of his fingers in and out of her heat. he wasn't an expert in the craft of _sex_ but he'd had enough experience— and heard _more_ than his necessary share of stories from the castle guards and nights— to know how to pull pleasure from a woman. Link pressed his thumb out against the swollen bud at the crown of her slick heat and she inhaled sharply as he matched the new rhythm of his fingers with the swirling of his thumb.

He could feel her juices coating his fingers and dripping down his palms and tried his best to keep composure thinking about what she would feel like swallowing up _something else._

"Oh _Goddess_ ," she moaned loudly as her entire body tightened around him. The friction he provided was almost _lethal_ in its effectiveness. Her breath came out ragged and uneven and he could tell the way her body was beginning to trembled and walls clenched around the rough pumping of his fingers that she was getting close.

Much too soon.

He withdrew his hand without warning and listened to her wordless pleas to continue. She expected him to touch her again - maybe just enter her right there. Instead, he pulled back for a second and unhooked her leg from high behind his back until it stretched over his chest and her foot ended just over his shoulder.

He pressed against her and her leg pulled back without restrain or any hesitation. If anything, she _enjoyed_ the stretch of her long limbs.

And then something _hot_ and _velvety smooth_ pressed against her lips and she inhaled knowing precisely what it was. In one slow thrust he buried himself to the hilt inside her.

Sheik's eyes exploded in white stars and she felt the whole world tremble with the incomprehensible sensation he pulled from her body as he finally filled her. Her mouth fell open in a long, very _pleased_ moan, open mouth against his chest as she instinctually pulled him tighter against her.

Meanwhile, Link held his breath not to come undone all at once. He knew he was going to enjoy this. He knew how beautiful the lines of her body were — how flexible those long legs he'd admired for the past several weeks were, and how elegant and in hindered her hips seemed to float as she walked. He hadn't expected how _divine_ it would feel to bury himself inside her.

From this angle, she squeezed him with such a delicious tightness he couldn't breathe for fear he'd come undone right then and there.

 _Thank the Goddess he'd heard a knight once speaking of this position over a late night mug of ale._


	4. Part 4: Promise

**Part 4: Promise**

There were a few lessons to be learned from the late night _tryst_ that evening. Firstly, _sex_ was an excellent way to release pent up emotions, anger, and _pain_ you didn't want to admit. Of course this was only applicable if you found a partner willing to accept it the way they'd found each other. Luckily for Link, Sheik was more than willing to take everything he gave her, and he reciprocated likewise.

Two, sex was also an excellent _distraction_ from all the chaos erupting around you _._ Most nights Link found himself starting up at the canvas of his tent and dim glow of the moon above thinking about all his shortcomings as _Hyrule's Hero_ and all the horrors he'd faced or was yet to face. Sleep didn't _used_ to come easy. Now he fell asleep thinking more of the feel of Sheik's flesh against his and her legs wrapped tightly around him than the blood on his hands and weight on his shoulders that accumulated with each battle.

And third, _sometimes having a human body beside you_ made all the difference when living through a war. You didn't need _sex_ for that. One simply just needed a warm body in their bed, and comforting voice to hold your conversation and attention. This was a reminder that there was still a human connection in the world, and that was a priceless gift to even the most legendary of heroes...

* * *

With a heavy breath and thunderous heart, Link collapsed on Sheik's side to catch his breath. His entire body shook violently with his release and Sheik involuntary gasped and clenched around him as she felt his warm seed fill her in ragged, unsynchronized jets until it seemed to drip from where they lay connected. She secretly _loved_ the feeling, no matter how _unladylike_ such a fancy was.

 _She didn't need to worry about her ladylike image at the moment._

Link felt as if his powerful heart were going to give out from exertion, but considering the reason he figured if he died right hen from a heart attack, better death couldn't be had. Once he'd regained enough strength to move without crushing his bedmate, he slowly slipped out of her body. Link hissed loudly as he felt his release oozing from her folds in its aftermath.

A rare and wholly _indecent_ thought crossed his mind about the significance of that situation but he buried the thought away deep in his mind where it wouldn't disturb him again. _Now was not the time for such thoughts._

Link gave a long and slowly built up breath and then sank into a comfortable position he could lay in _forever_ if the goddess would let him.

Sheik shifted just enough so her _hero's_ impressive weight didn't crush her arm and felt her body relax into the humble bed. She loved this time — not that she didn't love the sex with him. She _loved_ sec with _Hyrule's Hero._ She didn't have too extensive of an experience to compare it too, but there was something undeniably _explosive_ in their chemistry when they came together. But she also loved the quiet time she had afterwards where she could listen to his heartbeat in his chest and talk about anything and everything that came to mind without judgement. He was good _company_ in addition to a good _fuck._

But tonight was different. As her lithe taped fingers stroked the sweaty golden strands at the base of his neck and she felt him curl into the crook of her neck a little deeper, she could tell from the rhythm of his breathing that he wasn't asleep yet he didn't open any conversation. _He was thinking about something he didn't want to tell her._

"Something's bothering you." It wasn't a question but more a statement phrased like a question because they both knew she could see the truth in him without hindrance. Link was reluctant to speak. He'd always been on the quiet side outwardly. He was a man who chose his words carefully and made them count when he _did_ choose to verbalize them. He didn't speak of his troubles or the weight on his shoulders out loud, and he never _once_ complained about being the Hero or his duties as a knight to the royal family.

 _Except to her. To_ her, he spoke _everything_ that came to mind. He didn't know why, and she didn't question why, but there was a pull she had on him that let the words just slip so easily from his mind. She was gravity that pulled all the heaviness off his mind and heart and dropped it to his feet where he could finally let it all go.

"Just worried about where this is all going," he spoke softly. He turned his head to press a tender kiss to her shoulder before reclaiming his position. His heavy arm draped over her chest was a comfortable weight to her. Fingers at her other side found the soft skin of her inner arm and absently drew shapes into her flesh.

"It can go wherever we want it to go. I don't think our relationship needs predefined terms to identify it, do you?" She said the words partly to the man beside her and partly to herself in attempts to convince herself that it was true.

 _To make them true._

Sheik waited for a comment from Link but instead felt him go still a moment before he finally cleared his throat and decided to speak. "I meant _the war."_

 _Oh_.

"I know with the news that Zelda's been spotted near the temple of souls has everyone excited and worried of finding her, but I'm having a hard time believing anyone could turn her against her people, even with Cia's sorcery."

Sheik felt an uneasiness started to creep into her stomach.

"Impa believes it's her. I suppose I should too, but it doesn't _feel_ right. This whole time it's felt like she was safe; like she never really _left_." Link paused a beat, distracted in his thoughts. "Not that I've said more than two words to the princess since I've met her. I really don't know her well at all, but it's just an instinct I can't explain with rational words. It doesn't feel like she ever really left."

Sheik was eerily, _uncomfortably_ quiet, and Link picked up on it. "What's bothering you?"

She didn't answer, and instead shifted, trying to move him off of her until she could face him. The tent was much too dark to really see more than the harshest shadows, but the way she rested her forehead against Link's and let her hand rest against his heart told him she wasn't telling him something _very_ important.

" _It's not the princess,"_ Sheik's voice was so uncharacteristically tiny that Link almost didn't recognize it at all. Before he even had an opportunity to ask, she answered his unspoken question with "I can't explain how I know, you just have to trust me on it. Believe me."

Link swallowed thickly but moved his hand to her thin back and dragged her closer until he could feel her eyelashes against his cheek.

"I trust you with my life." He kissed her finally and for all the hungry, lustful, _desperate_ kisses they'd stolen and pulled from one another...this one was different. There was a softness in his kiss that hadn't been there earlier. Something in the way his lips brushed hers and he lingered in their kiss and brushed her cheek with the most tender, feather-like stroke of his thumb that changed the mood of the kiss tried to pull him closer and it made them feel like they were each trying to savor the fleeting moment, even if for very different reasons.

"If you found out I wasn't who I said I was, would you still kiss me like this?" The tiny voice had only shrunk even further if anything. She felt his fingers dragging up and down her spine tenderly and almost felt guilty for making him stop with her question.

"I love you without knowing who you are and knowing there are things you'll never be able to tell me. Why would learning a truth change anything?"

Completely missing the one slip of a word, she still remained unconvinced and Link felt it in her cold stillness. "That's like asking me if I'd still want your body if I saw it in the light. If anything, it would make it _better."_

Weather the last part struck a nerve or Sheik was still unconvinced was something that Link would question for years when she abruptly separated from him and sat up in bed. She already had both long legs over the edge of the makeshift bed and ready to stand and flee by the time Hyrule's Hero registered her movement and grabbed her arm with a hand. She paused, but he could tell by her coldness that she wasn't facing him.

 _What had he scared her with?_

The moment he had the thought at all his mind raced with a hundred different thoughts.

Sheik? Scared? Sheik didn't get scared. Sheikah were fearless, emotionless, strategic beings. They were stone hard and iron clad and they kept their hearts tightly protected under impenetrable walls. They didn't dwell on emotions or fears. It was one of the subtle ways they were different than the general Hylian population, and one of he presumed ways they could harness the magic that far surpassed that of a typical Hylian.

"I should go back to my tent before the other knights awaken." Her voice sounded like someone else's entirely and it was a sound that both astounded and _frightened_ Link. Sheik rose and dressed and before Link had even sat up in bed, she was gone.

A cold wind blew into the tent from her absence, and it sent an uneasy _dread_ to the hero's heart.

 _Something was amiss._

Link only hoped whatever it was didn't ruin what was growing between he and this formidable Sheikah woman.

 _Love._

He wasn't certain why, but the word floated to the top of his subconscious like a bubble and popped so abruptly he almost jumped out of his skin hearing its utterance.

 _He loved her._

No...no, he didn't. He did not. He could not. He would not.

This was _highly_ inappropriate, he reassured himself. He enjoyed the sex, and her tight little ass, and those mile-long legs that flexed like rubber and that perfect lithe body that could bend and twist like something straight out of any man's greatest fantasy.

This was just _sex._ It was like all those other knights that rented company to keep them warm at night amidst their wars.

 _No._

Sheik _wasn't_ rented company. She was so much more priceless than that. She wasn't an _object_ to borrow or a _tool_ to use and abuse as much as he pleased.

 _She was a warrior._

 _She was his friend._

 _She was a woman he trusted his life with._

And he loved the way her voice changed when she talked to him alone, or the way she danced her fingers over his chest when they lay in bed together. He adored how no matter which position they fell asleep in, her legs always ended up wrapped around him by the time morning rose as if she didn't want to let go of him. He hungered for the feel of her skin and the taste of her kiss and the delectable sounds she made when he made her curl her toes and filled her with his _love_.

 _No, no, no! Not that damn word again._

 _Love did not exist in the soldier's vocabulary, more less a knight of the royal family. He wasn't here to fall in love with a Sheikah — whatever that was supposed to mean anyways — he was here to find and rescue and return home safely the Hylian princess of Hyrule's Royal Family._

He loved his country and he loved his duty and he swore his oath to the Kingdom of Hyrule and the Hylian Royal Family and that was enough. That is what he'd been _bred_ to do. Unexplainable pull or not, he needed to remember it.

If he jumped with enough force, he could counter the pull of gravity, right?


	5. Part 5: Change

**Author's Notes:**

There be lemons in this part, so be warned.

Happy trails. Stay dry. Don't forget to comment or review if you like it (or don't.)

 **Part 5: Change**

Throughout recorded history and even early than that, no human race had been more misunderstood and mysterious than that of the Sheikah.

While historically they had often times referred to themselves as _a tribe_ most outsiders called them _a race._ Little more is known about this shadowy group other than they typically have a leader, they serve the royal family of Hyrule, and while they all have specific physical characteristics that differ from other Hylians, they are technically genetically _Hylian_. The birthplace of the Sheikah tribe and current home to the elusive people has been and would likely always be Kakariko Village, the town cast in a mountain's shadow.

Even their leader, and the captain of the Hyrulian army and advisor to the future Queen of Hyrule, Lady Impa was born, raised, and trained in Kakariko.

Born into the Sheikah tribe, lore and legend followed her name like the shadow of royalty. She was said to be the direct descendant of the Sage of Shadows from ancient times, and even today lived by the legend. She was as silent as the shadows following behind her prey, and her timing was impeccable, relying on feeling instead of vision.

She did not, however, need _feeling_ to figure out what was happening with _Hyrule's Hero._

She'd deciphered _that_ puzzle rather quickly. A few weeks prior she'd seen the young man stroll into the camp with a _look_ to him that seemed to glow right off the blue of his eyes. He'd been sly about it, and rather quiet. Then he's glanced around everyone waiting for her to make her speech, his eyes had settled on the mysterious _Sheik_ only a second before he'd glanced away about a second too quick.

She knew that look _immediately._ She'd seen it in the princess the morning after she'd snuck one of her visiting "friends" out of her bedroom and then spotted him at the breakfast table with her father or in the hall in front of her caretakers.

 _The Hero was sleeping with Sheik._

Hmm. Impa wanted to be annoyed. Link had the courage that far surpassed anyone else she'd ever met in her life. But he was still dangerously _young_. She knew what war did to men - particularly kind hearted men who were thrown into it much too young. It destroyed them from the inside out, blackened their hearts and poisoned their souls. She'd seen too many young knights throw themselves off the castle roof or tie their necks with rope. There was little in the world more horrifying than seeing a young spirit die long before the body that housed it.

But Link had been doing remarkably well. In fact, it was like he had a drive in him no one else could see that fueled his strength. He had something in his heart that pushed him forward and despite his quiet nature, she could feel the peace in his heart still. She'd seen it darker at the beginning of their journey when the young knight became reckless with shallow success and cocky in his attempts to hold on to his humanity.

But then he'd lightened. Something happened those two days they were locked in their campsite from the unplanned torrential downpour and ever since he'd seemed to awaken with a new light from within. Even when half their army turned against them and the blood shed soaked the bones of all their remaining...the next morning this young man rose like he'd become a new person.

 _Because he found someone to warm his bed._

Impa scoffed but she wasn't sure if the sound she made was soaked with disapproval or thanks to the Goddess. She was no prude. She wasn't his mother. If it helped _him_ to find a woman — or man — he enjoyed to spend his evenings with, so be it. Impa turned a blind eye and gave Hyrule's Hero a little more space and privacy because if it helped him hold on to his humanity, then that was as good of a reason as any.

Impa frowned now looking down at the young Hero amidst their army. He didn't look to have the same headstrong determination or bottomless hunger that he had before. There was something _different_ about his aura that had shifted in the past few days and only worsened each morning. He seemed…. _distracted._

She jumped to the ground and landed soundlessly on her feet in front of the young Hylian the moment he was alone. She half expected the young man to be surprised, but instead his wide eyes diminished as if he'd been hoping for someone else.

"Link, can I have a word with you?" She didn't wait for his response nor did she anticipate to hear one and instead headed towards the far off edge of camp with the footsteps of the young man behind her.

"You're distracted this morning." She didn't phrase it as a question and upon turning around to face him realized he wasn't denying it either. "I'm not sure what's going on between you and Sheik…"

Impa watched him swallow at the mention of the young woman's name.

"...but if it interferes with your focus, it may be a wise choice to keep her behind."

This time Link _did_ respond. "It won't."

Impa narrowed her piercing gaze unconvinced. "I don't have much confidence in that response."

He blinked but didn't say anything.

 _Traditional knight training at its finest._

"Just remember that the Princess chose _you_ as her Hero and she should be your primary focus. Bringing Princess Zelda back to safety is our only goal today."

Link nodded, holding his chin up high. Feeling the conversation was over, the Sheikah woman turned to leave before she heard the young man's voice again.

"Do you really think it's the Princess?"

Impa stopped midstep.

 _Did she?_

"I'm not certain." Her voice was quiet and she didn't turn back to face him. "I want to believe it's her, if for nothing else just so I know she's safe and to have her back under my watch."

Link was the one to continue the announcement. "But…"

Impa inhaled long and slow from her nose. "We won't know for sure until I can see it with my own two eyes." She turned to leave after that final world but took three steps and paused. For a moment she was quiet and didn't even turn to Link as if second guessing what she wanted to disclose. "I've been in charge of watching over the princess since before she learned to walk. In many ways, it felt like raising a child and I've thought of her as the closest thing to a daughter that I'll ever have in this lifetime." Link could hear the Sheikah take a deep breath, steady and strong like she always was. "I can't see her betraying her people. Not even if the Goddesses themselves told her to."

* * *

They found the princess just short of the outskirts of Lake Hylia. The day had been long and the sun had set. Light was fading fast into the darkness of twilight and a rising full moon. She'd been there only a moment with a large hoard of monsters in her wake like loyal servants. Then there was a wave of magic that rang through the air and she vanished with all that followed.

At first the Hyrulean army had thought they had imagined it.

 _It couldn't be Princess Zelda._

 _The Princess wouldn't…._

 _Surely their eyes were deceiving them._

 _It was a play of magic!_

But it didn't matter what the soldiers thought. Impa had seen it, the _Hero_ had seen it. They'd _all_ seen the royal princess in flesh and blood before the black magic of an untold evil swallowed her whole and left nothing in its trace. The army had searched the vicinity of the lake for hours after, but to no avail. Even long after the last few soldiers gave in on the endeavour Hyrule's _Hero_ still paced with a fiery determination and burning _rage_ in his chest so strong, his eyes almost turned red as a Sheikah's.

Impa made the executive decision to call it a night at that point. It was late, everyone was tired, and she just had the feeling something was amiss with the whole princess sighting. She sent the _Hero_ to get cleaned up for the night hoping it would calm him in his aggravates state and bid him a good evening as he disappeared towards a more secluded alcove of the Great Lake.

Link trudged begrudgingly towards the water with the weight of his shortcomings pressing down on his spine. _He should have moved quicker. He should have been there first to catch the princess and bring her home._

He should have done _a lot_ of things, if he was truly being honest with himself.

The water was peaceful so late at night. His blue eyes skimmed over the dark surface of the lake that glittered with the swollen moon's reflection. The sun would probably rise in a few hours. He may as well attempt to bathe and rest a bit before trying again tomorrow.

 _Some Hero._

Silent in the darkness and unperceived, a pair of red eyes watched him from above. Sheik sat silent on a large tree branch taking in the lake and casually eyeing the man undressing at its shore. She'd watched him approaching the waters edge from camp and knew she probably should have left. But she could almost feel the tension and anger radiating off his skin, and before she even forced herself to move he was removing clothes and skin was coming into the light and she was much more mesmerized by the smooth lines of lean muscle and hard flesh than her own bed.

 _Unless he was in that bed with her._

He had just removed the last of his garments — now thrown haphazardly on a rock — and making his way into the cool water when he glanced up and spotted her. Sheik didn't freeze out of fear of being caught watching him naked. After all the times she'd been intimate with him, she knew every line and scar on his body well enough that she didn't need to see it in the light at all.

She froze because he knew she was there and she hadn't made a sound.

"I thought you were avoiding me." His back turned against her, but she knew he was still keeping tabs on her. The moonlight reflected off the toned skin of his back and Sheik winced seeing the harsh texture of scars littering his flesh.

She should go to her own tent. Hot pink.

She should go to bed.

Yes, she knew really well that the _wise_ decision would be to leave now and go lay down in her _own_ bed before she ended up _naked_ in his again.

 _But…_

Her feet hit the floor with cat-like precision before she'd even registered what she wanted.

Link turned at the sound of her landing and locked eyes with her. For a moment there was silence between them, the void of nothing being filled with crickets and wind and the occasional hoot of an owl.

"You _have_ been avoiding me." It was unlike Link to divulge so many words and accusations without prompt, but Sheik remained stoney silent this time.

Figuring she wasn't going to say anything else, he turned his back to her and moved further into the water until it reached mid-stomach.

"Can I join you?" Sheik's voice was uncharacteristically soft, so much so that Link barely recognized it at all.

"I never took you for a woman who asked permission." His eyes were cold as stone but Sheik could hear the almost _playful_ challenge in his voice.

She smirked. _He was right about that._

She began to undo the red ties on her armor as she moved closer to the water's edge. One arm piece fell unceremoniously to the floor first, then the other, and just as she reached the water's edge she dropped to her knees to untie the remaining armor around her legs. Link watched her undress with a sense of wonder. He was just beginning to think how he'd _never_ truly seen her in the light when a dark cloud moved overhead to obscure the moonlight, casting their space in almost total darkness.

 _Of course._

Link reverted to listening to the rest of her undressing process and let his sore bones sink into the cool water the further in he ventured. He heard her approaching, the soft splash of feet then unmistakable sound of a body wading into the water and his eyes were closed as he felt the cool water ease scrapes and cuts and sores on his skin when two arms slid under his arms and wrapped around his chest like silk.

Sheik didn't say anything, but the weight of her body against his and feel of pert nipples pressed against his chest spoke volumes. Link let her hold him and touch him. He half expected her to kiss him or give him some form of sexual response or touch. Instead she simply kept thin arms wrapped tightly around him, bodies pressed close, and head against resting against his shoulder.

Her breath was warm against his skin, but again she remained silent. He didn't move or make any motion to touch her or ask anything of her. Sheik made the decision for him by unwrapping an arm from around his back, sliding it down his arm until reaching a wide, well calloused hand and brought it to her waist.

 _Hold me._

He followed suit, pulling his other arm around her middle until she was perfectly cradled in his hold. Sheik seemed to melt into his arms — arms built of strong muscle and bone and thousands of hours of training and preparation for battle and war.

They weren't battle arms right now, however.

Link ran his fingers of his left hand slowly up her spine, drawing smooth shapes and swirls against her skin in a surprisingly warm manner.

"Mmm," Sheik seemed to purr at the tender touch. She shifted in his hold and Link's breath thickened in throat when he felt her lips press against his skin.

Sheik kissed his collar and shoulder, moving slowly over invisible skin in the dark until she made her way up the column of throat and could feel him swallowing thickly at her teasing touch.

"Am I making you hard?" Her voice was hot and sultry but there was something indecipherable _acidic_ in its undertone that he caught immediately.

Link pushed her away just enough that she felt his resistance but didn't actually fully dislodge from his hold. He wished more than ever he could see better in the dark. Bright blue eyes searched the dark space in front of him but he could barely make out her shape more less any facial details.

"What's wrong with you?" His voice held more a tone of worry than accusation.

"Nothing," she tried to say quickly, pressing herself back against him. Her hands met his chest and traveled down his flesh. Her fingers were halfway down deliciously toned stomach before his much larger hands caught hers and held her firmly still.

"Don't fuck with me right now." Link's voice was harsh and sharp like a well sharpened blade. When Sheik didn't say anything or make any motion to escape his grasp he prodded her again. "What's bothering you so much that you're in such a hurry? Or did you just come here hoping you could get a good fuck out of me and then disappear again like you did the last time?"

Her swallow was clearly audible even if her face was hidden. Once again she didn't make any move to speak or pull away and it was bringing the Hylian _hero_ to a new height of impatience he rarely showed.

"I understand the Sheikah are supposed to be mysterious and have certain laws of governing their indiscretions, but this is ridiculous.'"

Sheik finally moved. She pulled her hands away and took a step back to create distance from Link and though he could see her, he had a feeling she was turning away to leave the water when he called out again.

"Is it because I'm in love with you?"

The sound of a moving body in water fell silent and he knew he'd stopped her retreat.

"Given the circumstances, it wasn't something I planned for and it definitely wasn't intended to be heard aloud like it was." He paused for a deep breath to regain his bearings. "But it doesn't make it any less true."

Though he couldn't see it in the dark, Sheik was now staring at him with a whole new weight in her chest.

"I tried really hard to keep it purely physical, but there's something about you that I can't quite seem to escape. You've got me pulled in your direction like gravity and no matter how far I jump, I just fall back down each time."

Sheik didn't move, remaining frozen in her spot like a statue cast in stone. But Link wouldn't let her run again. Whether they were in the middle of a war or a time of peace, the following morning was never guaranteed and he needed to tell her things before he lost the chance. He took three long strides forward until his chest collided with hers with enough force that she gasped sharply as he pressed a hungry, _desperate_ kiss against her that seemed to suck all the energy out of her body until she was breathless and lightheaded. Even then, his hands stayed against her face, holding her close against him and her forehead resting against his.

"I love you."

 _Sheik_.

He kissed her again this time softer and longer and when he pulled away she followed him as if wanting to drag out the flavor of his kiss.

"I love _you,"_ he told her again against her lips and he felt her tremble in his hands before she reached up to cover his fingers with hers.

"I can't tell you the same thing." When her voice finally broke her stoney silence he had expected — hoped even — to hear something _else_. Either way, he knew he didn't have a choice but to accept it.

"I can live with that for now." He was on her all once. Link's hands dropped from her face to her waist the same instant his mouth collided with hers. He pulled her tightly against him and Sheik reacted by wrapping her legs around his waist and arms tightly around his neck until she couldn't possibly feel more of him against her if she tried.

 _And she wanted more._

His kiss was hungry, mouth against hers with a fiery fervor. He bit down on her bottom lip with enough strength to make her gasp loudly without actually hurting her. Link's response was to invade her mouth with his tongue, an exploration fit for the _Hero adventurer_ that he was.

Sheik buzzed with energy in his arms, and the tighter she dug her nails into the scarred flesh of his shoulders and back, the tighter Link pulled her against him until it was almost difficult to breathe.

 _But the burn in her lung fueled her too._

She detached from his kiss with a violent gasp but Link didn't lessen his hold on her, taking the chance to kiss hungrily along her neck and throat. Sheik could hear her heart thundering in her chest, and the thought crossed her mind that they were still out in the open. Link bit down roughly against her collar and Sheik cried out a moan from the delicious sting of his teeth.

"Did I hurt you?" She wasn't sure if he asked as a challenge or fear but the sting of his bite left her delirious with lust and burned a fiery heat deep in her core that seemed to start in her chest and radiate towards her fingers and toes until she thought she'd burst with the light of the Goddess within.

 _More._

She wasn't sure if she asked out loud, but a moment later she was being hoisted onto a rocky ledge at the edge of the lake at that sinful mouth on her collar moved down towards her chest.

Link flattened his tongue and ran it over her nipple in one languid lick hat made her hiss when the cold air hardened it in his wake.

" _Fuck,"_ a feminine voice gasped low into the darkness as he licked it again and then closed his teeth around the tight bud, pulling lightly.

Sheik's back arched against him and she trembled with the feel of his rough grip mixing with the tender touches in between.

" _Link,"_ she moaned much more loudly as the tight bud popped from between his lips. He smirked against her skin, and scraped his teeth against the bone between her breasts

For good measure which only made the sensitive _Sheikah_ curl against his further and pull roughly at his hair.

Sheik tugged him up roughly by the hair, and Link followed suit to kiss her hungrily. His free left hand pulled her remained ignored nipple between thumb and forefinger, rolling the sensitive bud harshly. Sheik hissed into his mouth and she could feel him chuckle into her kiss.

"Goddess," she prayed with heavy breath and he left her mouth to kiss her neck and collar again, too low to reach her ear. Sheik expected him to gravitate towards her breasts again, perhaps with tongue or teeth or maybe even just hands. When he seemed to fall in front of her and his searing mouth pressed fiery kisses to her stomach, she almost squealed in surprise.

"Link, _no,"_ she told him in shock as the muscles of her stomach shook and twitched under the heat of his mouth.

" _Yes,"_ he kissed into her skin. He moved further down and Sheik's heart hammered in her ears with deafening volume. Strong, chiseled arms wrapped tightly under and around her thighs and the woman involuntary clutched at his hair.

 _He couldn't...Goddess help, he wasn't really…?_

His lips kissed the tender flesh of her inner thighs and she almost squeaked with a leap out of her seated position.

"Relax," he admonished her gently, and just to counter the thought, his teeth bit down hard on the sensitive flesh until the insides of her eyes burst in white starts with the sting of his teeth.

Sheik felt him nudge her legs further open, and her eyes involuntarily closed tightly and she opened for him.

Sheik didn't even know she was holding her breath until she felt his tongue slide into her warmth. Her body shook, and the loud, _inhuman_ sound that escaped her mouth carried the immeasurable sensation in the air like a deep black magic she could only dream of.

 _And he did it again._

Hot, velvety tongue burned a fiery wet trail up the entirety of her slit as if lapping up a sacred nectar she fueled him with.

"Goddess," her thoughts were incoherent. " _Fuck."_

Link smirked against her heat, but she didn't feel it nor see it, lost instead with the sensation of his tongue beginning to draw circles against the engorged bud at its peak. Two fingers slid effortlessly into her warm channel, and she wasn't even sure when it had all started, but she was already teetering on the forsaken sacred peak of oblivion.

Her breath was ragged and thunderous, drowned in the sound of his name, and ' _Goddess Hylia',_ and a variety of obscenities that would make even a _professional_ blush crimson red.

His lips closed completely around her sensitive clit and he sucked lightly in a manner that left her delirious in sensation.

She was _close._

So dangerously _close,_ she didn't even know when it had started or when it had ended.

Link curled his fingers and pulled lightly and Sheik's world shattered instantly.

Her mouth fell open and spine arched back so violently even her scream of bliss died silently in her throat. She shook with tremors of unrivaled release and squeezed her eyes so tightly closed her eyes burned blue and red with the force of her release.

Link held her tightly, never releasing his ironclad grip on her hip or the movement of his fingers pulling her release from her body.

And then she stilled. He felt her walls fluttering around his fingers and knew she'd finished completely. Above him, her chest rose and fell with dangerous thrusts and breaths of her exertion. Link gave the oversensitive bud one last slow lick and felt her clench and hiss of the oversensitivity such a powerful finale left lingering on her nerves.

He kissed her inner thigh, and loosened his grip on her leg and hip just as Sheik's fingers started to massage the golden strands she'd pulled so roughly only a moment prior.

His lips skimmed up her stomach, tongue dipping teasingly into her navel a second before he finished his treck up her sternum to the sweaty, salty skin of her neck.

Sheik opened her mouth to speak - to say something that even skimmed the surface of such an experience - but fell short of any vocabulary that sufficed. It resulted in a half open mouth searching for words that made Link smile in triumph as he kissed the corner of her swollen lips before speaking.

"Have I left you speechless?" he teased her with kisses at her lips, her nose, her chin and back to her throat. Sheik's flesh puffed where he'd bit down previously, the tender flesh beginning to purple and bruise even though such coloring remained invisible in the darkness.

" _Link,"_ she finally breathed when she found a voice as worn down and roughened as her body. Link paused his kisses to try and meet her eyes. The red were barely visible in the dark lighting.

She tried to tell him exactly what she wanted, with detail that left nothing to the imagination or presumption of the fully capable _hero._ What escaped her mouth instead was a single syllable.

" _You."_

The single word alone registered in Link's mind like a well phrased request. He understood it immediately. Without so much as another sound spoken or moment to ponder the request, Link kissed her fully on the mouth and slid one arm around her waist and the other under her ass.

He hoisted her up and off her rough perch without the faintest sign of struggle and a moment later laid her gently down on the soft grass and tiny blossoms that lined the bank of the lake.

" _Goddess,"_ he whispered breathlessly into her mouth as he adjusted his position hovering above her. His arm hooked beneath her knee, and she let him pull her leg gently up until the muscle of her calve rested over his shoulder and her toes curled behind his head. He felt her fingers dig into the sweaty, wet half curls at the base of his skull and for a moment just paused.

" _I love you,"_ he told her softly without opening his eyes.

And then he sank slowly into her warmth and let her body accept him fully until his hips came flush to hers.

He nearly came undone before they even started.


	6. Part 6: Reveal

Sheik did something that night she had never truly done before: _she slept with a man._

Sex was simple enough. She'd long been _deflowered_ and had experimented with a small handful of romantic trysts, but _none_ had ever slept in her bed all night or had her sleep in _theirs_ through the morning.

But it was different with Link. She _wanted_ to stay in bed with him. She wanted to feel the way he _loved_ her, not just chased a cheap release and tossed her off to the side.

But she was on _borrowed time,_ and had thoughts in her mind and feelings in her heart she wouldn't allow herself to admit. So she stayed in his bed and held him close and adored the feel of his warm skin against hers. When she stirred in the early morning of sunrise with the comfortable weight of Link's arm draped over her waist and warm nose pressed into her spine, she wanted to bury herself further into the blankets and pull him closer for _just a little longer._

Link stirred but didn't make any movement to rise or shake the sleep off his bones. Sheik only knew he was beginning to wake when he kissed her back and breathed in her feminine scent.

 _She smelled good._

Well, maybe not _great_ exactly, but she smelled like _her_ mixed with _him_ , a touch of earthiness from their grassy _romp_ the previous night and lightly of sweat after their several rounds of lovemaking.

"Keep your eyes closed while I dress," she asked him softly. Link grumbled something incoherent and nuzzled his nose further into her skin but then stilled, slumber still heavy on his skin.

She rose from the makeshift bed feeling the low ache between her thighs as courtesy of her previous night's adventures still lingering in her body. She dressed quickly, taking care to wrap her more identifiable features before clothing the rest of her body. Link kept his eyes closed the entire time listening to the quiet sounds of her dressing and imagining smooth, creamy skin being wrapped and tightened and clothed in gauze and leather and armor tied together with tantalizing red ribbons.

Once anything visible was covered and her hair wrapped again, she turned back to Link. He had his eyes still closed but she could tell by the pattern of his breathing he was well aware of her movements.

She wanted so badly to crawl back into bed and press her skin against his and fall asleep in his arms that it almost hurt her to think it would probably be the last time she'd get to do this.

 _Goddess please grant me one more chance to love this man._

 _No, no, no, no. Not that horrible word again..._

She leaned over the bed and the cranky stand that held up the bedroll complained harshly under her weight. Pulling the thin fabric over her face down just a moment, she kissed his sleepy lips. Link accepted the kiss happily, reaching a hand up to cup the side of her face and deepen the smooch a moment before she finally pulled away and recovered herself before he could see. Link opened his eyes to say goodbye — for now anyways — and paused at the site of deep blue eyes. He starred for a moment and didn't even know if she noticed his question but then Sheik blinked and _blue_ immediately turned _red_ without her even realizing the slip.

They were quiet a moment as neither of the pair knew exactly what words they should say in that situation. So instead they kissed one more time with lips lingering after the touch and then she slipped out of the tent with her customary silence.

* * *

The morning was slow at first.

Speech from Impa served as a pep-talk.

Hero stood tall and proud and Sheik was grateful for the secrecy her mask and armor provided because just watching him stand beside the formidable Lady Impa made her chest ache and heart hunger for him.

Then they'd reviewed their plan to split search groups to find and retrieve 'the Princess' and bring her back to their company.

It was as simple a plan as any. It progressed just as well as anyone had hoped.

Then everything seemed to go wrong all at once.

 _They'd approached the water temple heavy in arms and ready for a search and rescue of their Hylian Princess. They expected a battle, but they had prepared to see their Goddess-descended Princess perched high above the Water Temple columns commanding an ambush of monsters against them._

 _Then she'd vanished and the battle erupted all at once._

 _Impa and Link led the Hyrulean forces and allies. They pushed with brute force into the temple and once enough enemies had been pushed aside the party split with Link running off in one direction with a group in his shadow and Impa in another direction with the same size party following her._

 _Sheik followed the latter path with her Sheikah captain and fought her way through the hordes that countered their forces. Never once did an enemy touch or match her speed or agility. She cut through the armed monsters like silk through fingers and they fell in her wake before they even registered her movements._

 _But she was sharp as a blade in her focus. The goal was to find the imposter princess, eliminate the foe, and take her place before anyone noticed._

 _But then everything went wrong._

Impa saw _it_ first. Her lightning reflexes caught eye of the princess and despite her impeccable training... _she froze._ She wanted to scream, she wanted to run, she wanted to grab the princess and pull her to safety much like she had when the princess was little and she was her caretaker. Instead, she watched _her_ Zelda standing there with a sinister look in her eye she didn't recognize at all. _It didn't look like her Zelda._

Not an instant later Sheik stormed in like a spirit in the wind, fast, precise, cat-like with an unmatched elegance that if Impa didn't know any better she would have sworn was a product of her _own_ training. And then the mysterious woman did the unthinkable and _attacked the princess._

Impa watched with horrid shock as Hyrule's princess fell back. The Sheikah lunged towards her...but before the Hylian Royal landed on her back, the air cracked with deep black magic, swirled with energy and swallowed the princess in a black cloud.

Someone yelled in horror, and the Sheikah leader didn't know if it was her voice or someone else's, but before she could even deficipher that puzzle or turn of the young woman who had just brutally attacked her royal charge, a dark mass of evil rose from the hole in which the princess fell.

"How did you know I wasn't the real princess?"

The world could have gone still and Sheik would not have noticed the difference. She knew with utmost certainty that her time of disguise was well over.

"You couldn't be the princess," Her voice didn't quiver or falter, strong and forward as she spoke. " _Because_ I'm _Zelda."_ She felt the magic coursing through her all at once. The spell which she had used to change her voice and eyes and more identifiable features stripped away completely. The tight cotton on her body stretched and fluttered, replaced with heavy silks and expensive textiles of gold threading and decor. Soft, lightweight protection grew heavy and thick.

She stood before everyone then no longer as the mysterious sheikah warrior, _Sheik_ , but now the long-lost Hylian Princess of the Royal Family of Hyrule, _Princess Zelda._

Realizing the plan had been successfully _foiled_ with the Princess's reveal, the shadowy figure screamed an ear shattering scream that crumbled everyone in the vicinity to the floor and then vanished in a swirl of black smoke.

Sheik's heart thundered dangerously in her chest. Her ears rang violently, deafening the sounds around her and her vision blurred and doubled as she stood shakily on her two feet. Someone called out, but she wasn't sure what the voice said or who they were shouting to as she wobbled on her feet and tried to regain her bearings.

" _Princess!"_

She turned nearly falling in her spin and then things came into focus.

 _Eyes._

Eyes all stared at her and suddenly she heard less of the high pitched ringing and more of her own heartbeat. Impa starred at her as if she'd just seen a ghost rise from the ashes and it took Sheik a moment to remember _why._

She wasn't _Sheik._

"Princess?" It sounded like her Sheikah captain but her mouth didn't move.

" _Zelda!"_

Sheik did not exist.

Impa took a tentative step forward and Zelda felt the air around her starting to compress and tighten like hands around her throat. Her blue eyes skimmed over the room and she almost breathed finding it empty as if not seeing _him_ there seemed to relieve the pressure and lighten her spirits because at least...

And then she spotted _green_.

Her breath froze in her throat and chest fell with an unmatched heft. She felt as if the world stopped spinning on its access and time itself seemed to slow.

Bright blue eyes stared at her with a mix of wonder, shock, and _betrayal._ He stared at her as if watching a stranger.

She wanted to call out to him. She wanted to call him to her, wrap her arms around him, plead him to remember it was her. Link just stared. Sword drawn but lowered to the ground, shield held defensively to his side, he seemed uncharacteristically _petrified_ in his stance.

 _Link…_

She wasn't sure if the voice came from her lips or only her mind but then the sound of rushing footsteps filled the room and bodies all appeared at once in a blur of metal and leather and a large group of soldiers invaded the space. An echo of gasps resounded in the stoney room then every single one of the men fell to their knees in the presence of the future princess.

But Sheik….

 _No._

 _Zelda._

 _There was no Sheik anymore. There never was a Sheik. Sheik did not exist, she was merely a disguise the princess had encompassed to do the things she did without notice or fuss._

 _Zelda_ couldn't take her eyes off the blue pair boring into hers. She was blind to the slow progression of her Sheikah caretaker approaching her, or the voices of questions all whispered around her.

Link blinked and then finally glanced to his side. All his fellow knight knelt to the princess as was obligated of the knights in the presence of a royal.

Zelda held her breath not out of suffocation but out of the painful squeeze her heart gave in her chest. Link kept her stare only a moment longer then dropped his eyes to the floor in defeat and knelt to the ground like what was obligated.

She wasn't sure if anyone else could hear the _shatter_ that echoed through the room, but she felt her heart as it fell to the stones with his kneel and crumbled into a million shards like crystal.


	7. Part 7: Light

Impa's tent was cold, harsh, and hollow. Zelda sat in the corner upon a meager stool, knees bent and pressed up to her chest, chin atop them, staring at the dull grey canvas with a void in her heart that seemed to only worsen with each passing day.

"Three months and I didn't see anyone so much as see you coming, and you spend three days back as yourself and you've already been injured several times." The Sheikah warrior dapped the bloodied cloth into her bowl once more before bringing it to the ugly gash across the princess's shoulder. The younger woman winced but let her audible hiss die on her tongue without any words.

Impa finished cleaning the cut and took care to cover it with a fresh piece of gauze before pulling away from the silent princess. A red potion would have been much more efficient. But their supply was running low, and at times where red potions ran low they were typically saved for those at death's door, not the Princess of Hyrule with a minor cut across her arm. Impa's eyes caught sight of a dark purple and browning spot on the princess neck and she reached out instinctually to inspect it concern.

"That's not an injury," Zelda explained quickly as she pulled the collar of her gown up in meager attempts to hide the ugly bruise.

Impa raised a brow, glancing back at the location of the suspicious bruise one more time before stepping away without a sound.

Zelda refolded her arms tightly over her knees and chest and let her ears sync to sound of her breathing. _She hated this. She hated being in this war as Zelda. She missed so much being Sheik of the Sheikah where no one knew who she was and let her be and she could spend her evenings close to his warm body and love._

"Did _he_ know?" Impa's voice broke the princess's self loathing with quiet attention. Zelda didn't even so much as glanced at the woman, her blue eyes still slightly glazed and definitely focused on the dirty canvas wall.

" _No."_

Impa frowned, clearly expecting a different answer from the young woman but didn't comment with any more words that would only further the young woman's suffering.

Zelda remained still, never moving from her position as Impa busied herself with cleaning up the dirty rags and bandages and discarded, tattered garments the princess had removed a few hours prior. It was nearly twenty minutes later when the Sheikah warrior finally came before the princess, crouching to her eye level before getting her attention.

"You love him." The older woman didn't ask it as a question but rather stated it as a truth.

Zelda looked up to her most trusted ally and met eyes with her.

" _It's improper,"_ Her voice spoke small and fragile.

"That has nothing to to do with the shadow of the moon, Princess."

Zelda kept her eyes trained a moment longer before finally giving in and burying her face in her arms and purposely avoiding the question. It didn't matter, however. Zelda's reluctance to give her Sheikah assistant a response was an answer in itself.

"So you've been sleeping with him for about three months, you've fallen in love with him, and it never occurred to you that perhaps informing him that you were the future Queen of Hyrule may be a good idea?"

Zelda grunted and finally stood from her perch with a surprising fluidity. She paced the room uneasily but Impa let her do so, simply keeping eye on her charge and letting her divulge her information on her _own_ terms.

"This whole thing was just a fantasy," the princess spoke softly. She paused her pacing by looking down at her feet and for a moment remembered the feel of his lips kissing up her ankle and calf and how luxurious those calloused hands felt in her flesh. "I did it to save the army the worry of having to watch out for the princess while out on the field and give myself a chance to be part of the fight. I wanted to fight with my men and protect what was given to me at birth. It felt like it was my place to do so." She breathed in deeply through her mouth and out through her nose. "But it was stupid and naive to think I could handle the treachery of a war like this alone."

 _But she wasn't alone. In the time she needed someone most, she found herself in_ his _arms and that was where the trouble all started._

Impa paced closer with a thought in mind she almost _dared_ not ask. "Did you at the least…" Impa's voice trailed off as if searching for the most delicate choice of words. " _Protect yourself?"_

It took zelda a moment to understand what her Sheikah familiar was insinuating, but once the reality of her question registered in her mind, Zelda's face immediately burned crimson red to the tips of her ears.

" _Oh course!"_ She hissed almost instantly. _What a thought._ "It was naive enough to think this fantasy could go on, I wasn't going to let myself get _pregnant_ too."

She could only _imagine_ the kingdom gossip if the future Queen of Hyrule came back from war pregnant with one of her knight's child. Eyebrows would rise higher than Hyrule Castle's highest spire and she never _was_ terribly comfortable with _heights._

"You taught me better than that."

Impa had to crack a triumphant smirk at that.

 _Look at the woman you've become._

She still remembered the day the princess' mother had passed and she'd been appointed to the infant's care. She'd sworn her undying allegiance to the Royal Family much like her ancestors before her, but she'd never expected the task would place her in a maternal role of raising the future Queen of Hyrule.

Now as she watched the young woman broken over her own choices, there was a pride buried somewhere deep in the Sheikah's heart she feared she understood the significance was but dared not speak aloud.

 _Hyrule had a magnificent Queen ahead of them, if this war would end in time for them to meet her._

Zelda breathed out slowly and looked back towards the old grey canvas of the tent wall. She didn't say anything else, and remained as if entranced in a past time replaying in her memory. Impa's impressive Sheikah abilities were vast and mysterious by nature, but they did not include _reading Hylian minds._

Still. The way the princess stared into the void and held herself as limp as a homeless hound gave her more than enough information for her to guess _who_ was plaguing the young woman's mind.

 _If only broken hearts were as easy to mend as battle wounds._

—-—-—-—-—-—-

The following few weeks brought a new excitement to the Hyrulean forces. With the return of their Princess and future Queen, Hyrule's army seemed inspired to new strength and force. They tackled down monsters and foes with a new vengeance and fought back with enough force to counter twice their man power.

Zelda watched but rarely took part in the fight any longer.

 _It's too dangerous for the princess to take part!_

 _She could get hurt!_

 _She could be abducted!_

 _Princesses don't belong in battle!_

The disgust of such thoughts alone made her sick to her stomach. But she understood that with her role and soon-to-be-Queen, she needed to take certain precautions.

So she sat back and watched as men fought and battles were won and the dead brought back for burial and she prayed over the bodies of each one for a blessing from the Goddess to bring them peace.

She managed well enough in the beginning. She knew she didn't have much choice. As a random and unknown _Sheikah warrior,_ she was anonymous and hidden. No one would target _her_ specifically.

As the Princess of Hyrule, she would have an enormous red target on her ' _pretty little head,'_ as someone had so aptly worded.

So she stayed.

And prayed.

And watched her knights and soldiers take off for battles she didn't know if they had a chance of surviving and praying even harder _he_ would come back to her.

And he always did with triumph in his eye and a well played _manufactured_ smile on his handsome face when he saw her again upon his return. He never spoke to her. He always knelt for the princess with the other knights. He _always_ came back.

 _Until he didn't._

It was a particularly dark night when the Hyrulean soldiers set out to investigate nearby Faron Woods. Soldiers had left early in the day to look for any suspicious activity and never returned. When it great late and the remaining force worried, Impa and Link led a majority of the remaining men out in search of the missing Hylians.

The princess - of course - was instructed to stay with a small group of guards to ensure her safety. She waited. And waited. And waited. And just when she was nearly falling asleep with the moon high in the sky, Impa returned - alone without any accompanying soldiers and _without_ Link.

The Sheikah blew through the area before any guards even realized she was there. She grabbed Zelda's hand with aggressive accuracy pulling the princess to her feet and into her tent before a word was even spoken.

"What's wrong?" Zelda immediately called once she landed with miraculous grace in the tent. Impa didn't answer and instead through the younger woman a pile of clothes and cloth.

"Put it on. Link can't do this alone." She watched the princess falter and look at the clothing in her hands for a moment. "Dress," she repeated in a more forceful tone. " _Now."_

Time seemed to pass in a blur after that. Zelda had dressed so fast, she barely remember tying her hair or covering her face.

And then she was there, Impa on her left and a group of soldiers on her right, looking up at a sinister black toware in the middle of land poisoned by dark magic of an entirely _different_ source that the shadow that encompassed the Sheikah or light of the princess.

 _The air buzzed with power unfiltered by Earthly space and a loud ominous_ roar _shook the Earth beneath their feet as they approached._

Impa looked at the disguised princess beside her at the safe time she looked at her. They didn't need verbal discussion to understand each other.

 _Go._

She flew.

Zelda dashed down corridors and grass and up walls and corners as if as light as the wind and _silent as a shadow._

No longer restrained by heavy armor and massive skirts and crowns, she felt as if her Sheikah disguise gave her a power held dormant the past few days she'd shed her wraps and mask. It emanated from within her soul and fueled her feet and arms and drive forward.

 _And him._

 _He_ drove her concentration - her undeniable, unfaltering speed and determination to progress forward and search each space with unmatched speed.

She flew into a room and froze.

Link stood in the center of the abandoned keep, sword in hand, dirt on his face and tears on his tunic, but definitely _alive._ He met her eyes almost as soon as she found him, but didn't say anything for several moments.

 _She didn't understand._ He didn't look too badly injured. He didn't look to be in peril. There didn't even seem to be an enemy in the space. In fact, she didn't feel any immediate threat or shift in power at all except the triangle on her hand begun to glow from beneath her wraps indicating he was, in fact, the _real_ Hero of Hyrule.

Zelda narrowed her eyes in suspicion and Link final broke his stoney silence.

"I take it this means you're not abducted by Cia and waiting for me _courage_ to come to the rescue?"

At that the disguised princess _did_ react. She stood up straighter, furrowed her brows and pulled her mask down to hang around her neck. She wanted to speak, and she took a step forward and opened her mouth to say _anything_ that would help.

But the words died on her lips and her feet stopped beneath her and it was just _her_ and _him_ standing in the middle of an abandoned fort in the middle of the night. The bright light of a full moon illuminated the space so clearly, Zelda could make out the look in her _Hero's_ eyes.

They weren't eyes of _fear_ or _anger_ or even _regret._

They were eyes of _apology._

It all made sense at once. Impa returning on her own, all her soldiers unaccounted for. Link needing _her_ help but no one following behind her. The look of recognition must have registered on the princess' face because Link broke in to a wide, uncharacteristic grin.

"Impa called you here, didn't she?"

 _It was a trap._

Zelda turned on her heel ready to flee and track down that infuriating _Sheikah_ for what she'd just pulled when Link called out.

"Sheik, wait." She could hear his rushed footsteps behind her and then they stilled and he entered her space. She could feel the heat radiating of his body at how close he stood to her. Link reached out a hand to touch her arm, but Zelda was a foot away before he could even register her movement.

"Zelda," she said definitively. She tried to keep her voice from wavering with the thoughts in her mind and heaviness in her heart. "My name is _Zelda,_ " she repeated once more for emphasis.

For a moment Link didn't speak and the princess listened to the sound of his breathing. Slow, heavy, steady.

"Princess Zelda, the future Queen of Hyrule."

She felt her eyes burn at hearing the words in his voice.

"I know who you are, _Princess._ " He tried again to reach for her arm, and this time she let him. He pulled gently and she turned in his direction but didn't meet his eye. "Aren't Royals supposed to yield to no one and look them in the eyes when they speak as a form of showing their power?"

Zelda swallowed thickly and felt her resolving cracking under his words. She was standing so close to him, she could feel his breath on her cheek when he spoke. She felt him leaning closer and wanted so _badly_ to feel his kiss again. But…

" _We can't, Link."_

Zelda's chest positively _trembled_ with the resolve she tried so desperately to hold on to, but she knew she'd lost the battle already. She felt it in the shiver of her spine and tightening of her throat and numbness in her fingertips.

"Why not?" He reached out a hand to her cheek and she immediately leaned into his touch with eyes pressed painfully closed.

"Its improper." She choked on the words with a swell of emotion flooding her veins. "It would never been accepted."

"Do you love me?" Link's question was not one the princess had expected and she finally looked up to meet his eyes.

His eyes were so blue in the light, it was if she'd never truly seen them. They held such an intensity in them, they seemed to _radiate_ with power in them. Or maybe it wasn't power, exactly. It was something else entirely. A force that reached out to her and pulled her close into his orbit like _gravity_.

 _She couldn't._ She closed her eyes so tight her vision changed colors in the darkness of her sightlessness.

"Princess, _please._ " He pleaded with her for an answer and asked her again. "Do you love me?"

She felt the gasp coming off her lips before she'd even registered it's building. "I can't," she now spoke out with tears in her eyes. "I _can't_ love you."

"That's not an answer." He waited again but she didn't move. "Zelda, _please._ "

The last straw of resolve snapped all in the same instance.

Zelda's hands reached out and pulled him forward by the hair so quick he didn't even register her movement until her mouth pressed _hard_ against his. She gasped loud enough into his lips that it echoed in his ears.

Link reacted with arms wrapping around her body and she melted into his hold and he pressed her close to his body.

 _It was like she wanted to absorb him into her body._

" _I love you so much, it hurts."_ Her voice was so tiny and soft and swallowed by his mouth and taste and velvety lips moving so gently against hers he barely heard it at all.

 _But he did._

She pulled away for breath but Link held her so close their foreheads rested against one another. It was as if an insurmountable _weight_ were lifted off her chest, and Zelda felt so light, she felt it all bubble in her body until it came out of her mouth in what unmistakably sounded like _a laugh._

"I love you, Link." She kissed him again and brought his face so close to hers it was as if she breathed through his body. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Link smiled against her and felt his skin buzz when she finally released his mouth and let him speak. His head swirled and body buzzed and he was pretty sure he had a wound on his arm that was bleeding through his tunic at the moment but it made him no difference.

 _He'd heard her_.


	8. Part 8: Love

**Part 8: Love**

The tent was very crowded when they returned to camp. It hadn't taken long for the princess and Hyrule's Hero to return to the campsite. Especially considering halfway through kissing her beloved Hero the Hylian Princess touched something _wet_ and looked down in horror to see a nasty slice across the man's arm that still hadn't stopped bleeding.

Zelda knew what the expectations were of her. She was well aware of what _propriety_ expected to see. But she also knew that after being in this war and seeing the things she did, she really couldn't give a smaller _damn_ about _propriety_ anymore. It wasn't worth it. Heartbreak wasn't worth it.

So the princess removed some bandages from her outfit and tied Link's arm around tightly and held him close as they walked back to camp arm-in-arm.

 _She'd make it up to him later_.

Now as the two sat in crowded room with five other bodies in a space meant for one, Zelda _really_ regretted returning to camp so early.

She now found herself sitting on a stool beside her beloved that was nearly _naked_ compared to the rest of the occupants of the tent as a doctor sewed his arm with a big black needle and thread. Zelda was certain he didn't appreciate being so undressed in the presence of so many, but he wanted to let go of her even less, so he put on a smile and paid it no notice for her benefit.

Link laced the fingers of his right hand with hers and brought her hand up to his lips so he could kiss her knuckles. It was tender and affectionate love that while wordless and silent spoke _volumes_ towards easing the Princess's nerves. It also worked well at getting a distasteful look from the doctor currently sewing up the Hero's left arm. The man wouldn't say anything out loud. He couldn't —- she was the future Queen of Hyrule. But Zelda could read it on his face.

 _How improper._

Meanwhile, another woman busied herself with ensuring the Princess was uninjured and well despite Zelda's insistence that _no one had touched her._

Maybe except for _Link._ But she was pretty certain that wasn't the kind of touch the woman was worried about and it was no ones business except her own.

"Your majesty, perhaps if I could just look…"

Zelda cut her off before she could finish. "No," she said firmly. "I'm fine, really. You should retire for the evening. I'm just going to wait here until Link is checked out and then I'll go to bed myself."

The doctor running a needle through the Hero's arm made a noise in his throat but didn't say anything.

The elderly woman seemed hesitant, but the Princess seemed well enough without even so much as a tear in her outfit and she'd insisted the blood on her was from the Hero beside her, not her own.

Zelda watched the woman walking away as exited the tent and let out the breath of air she hadn't felt herself holding.

Link brought her hand up to his lips again and lingered a fraction longer this time. It made a tingle of warmth course down her arm and through her chest until it pinkened her cheeks and warmed her smile.

"That seems about finished," the doctor said loudly once he'd snipped off the remaining thread. Zelda tilted her head over and hissed at the ugly black zigzag tubing down her Hero's arm.

"It's ugly, but it will fade. And looking by the rest of your scars…" the judge mental man's ayes skimmed over Link's impressive but highly marked chest. "One more won't do you much harm."

Zelda frowned.

 _So the eyebrows begin already._

The man gave Link a small vial of something clear, muttered a few more professional words with an unprofessional tone and then finally left the tent with a bow to the Princess, a _goodnight_ to Impa, and not so much as a glance at his actual patient.

Link turned to Zelda with a warmth in his eyes that she was pretty sure was sleepiness but also may have been repressed arousal. The Princess blinked as she glanced from his lips to his eyes and involuntarily held her breath when he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"Will you sleep in my bed with me tonight?"

He said the words so low she could barely hear them herself and yet as soon as he did Impa across the tent straightened up and cleared her throat with heightened authority.

"We should retire for the evening and review this plan again in the morning." She paused, and though she didn't turn around Zelda was almost _certain_ she was watching them. "The princess has had a long night herself and needs her rest."

The two Hylian Captains nodded with respectful movements and then exited the tent with a respectful nod to the Royal in the space.

And then it was only Impa and _them._

Zelda felt like a teenage girl being caught naked with her _male companion_ in the presence of a mother. Yet Impa seemed as calm as she had with the captains earlier. Zelda watched the Sheikah woman as she gathered the maps and charts spread around the room with practiced efficiency before finally standing tall and acknowledging the young couple.

"I'm going to stand guard outside your tent tonight."

Zelda blinked. _She was going to have the tent to herself?_

"If you need anything, you can call for me." Impa gave the princess a customary nod that was very _Impa_ of her before she turned to Link who now seemed to wave uneasily in his seat the heavier his eyelids became. " _He_ needs sleep. Make sure he's in _his_ tent before any of the guards wake up in the morning or there's only so much I can say to appease their over-inflated sense of righteousness." Despite the harshness of her words, she sprouted the faintest smile. "Have a good night. The _both_ of you." She left without another utterance and then _they were alone_.

It registered to Zelda sometime after her _bodyguard_ had left that she had never been alone with Link _as Zelda._ As if understanding her thoughts — or perhaps just beginning to feel the effects of whatever concoction the doctor had given him — Link rested his head against the princess's shoulder and took a long, deep breath.

"I love you," he mumbled sleepily with a nuzzle of his nose into her neck. It was clear indication that it was time for bed.

"Okay, bed for the Hero." Zelda rose first, long legs standing tall before she reached down to Link. He put his hands in hers but then looked at her like she were the goddess herself standing before him.

 _He was going to love this woman for the rest of his life._

She pulled him up gently to his feet and he followed without resistance. His chest collided softly with hers when he was on his feet and despite Zelda's mission to get her Hero into bed, she couldn't bring herself to move once he was pressed up against her. Link was so close she could feel his warm breath on her face, and she had the insatiable urge to taste his kiss again.

"You can stay with me tonight," she whispered so low he barely heard it. Link had registered his movement in his sleep clouded mind but he felt his lips brushing across hers and smiled.

"I thought I already was." Zelda's laugh was musical which made Link smile broadly just as his lips found hers.

Their kiss was slow and soft and warmed her heart and toes with an electric charge that made her head light and heart soar above her body. Link wrapped his good right arm snuggly around her middle to hold her close and she _hummed_ in appreciation with arms around his neck.

When they finally parted for breath they still kept their foreheads together, their breaths slightly labored but deliciously warm as they mixed.

"Princess," he whispered with a softness she hadn't heard before. "Can I make love to you tonight?"

She felt the breath tremble in her throat and curled her fingers deeper into the golden strands at the base of his skull. "If you call me _Zelda."_

He smiled again and gave her one more kiss before pulling away and pulling towards the bed.

The Princess's counters were much more elegant than his. A _real bed_ that no one really understood _how_ it fit into a tent, soft sheets, and an iron-gram headboard. Link sat on the bed first and winced slightly as he tried to use his left arm to undress her.

"Let me." Zelda's fingers began to untie the red ribbons around her arms and it dawned on her only then that this was the first time he was seeing her undress. With courage radiating in her soul, she peeled each piece off and more and more skin became visible to his hungry eyes and smiled or giggled when he occasionally kissed each new purchase with a wonder and care.

When she finally pulled the ribbons from her hair and the long blonde waves cascaded around her nearly bare shoulders she could have sworn she saw him hold his breath.

Link didn't say anything a moment. His blue eyes took in every detail and line of her glorious frame, gliding over the last remaining fabric covering her chest and sex like it was a treasure he didn't feel deserving of. Zelda was uneasy feeling him watching her and instinctively wrapped her arms around her chest when he finally spoke.

"I knew it." He looked at her a moment longer before meeting her eyes. "You're even more beautiful than I could ever have imagined."

Her heart swelled in her chest and she felt suddenly more bashful than she ever had in her presence. Link kissed her neck. Soft, warm, tender movements of his sweet lips against her flesh that made something pool in her belly and excelerate her heart.

 _I love you._

She reclined against the pillows and pulled him gently to follow. Link kept one arm stretched out at her side, palm down and flat against the mattress and the other drawing shapes against her hip. His lips navigated to her chin, soft pecks over the curve before moving to her ear in which she buried her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer. She wanted to _breathe_ him in through her mouth until she absorbed his very essence into her soul.

 _I love you_ so _much._

Link's lips traced the lace edge of Zelda's corset and she closed her eyes at the feeling of his one free hand tangling in the laces between her breasts.

"Can you take this off for me?"

Zelda laughed and found his mouth with a deep, lingering kiss.

 _Hyrule's Hero didn't know how to remove a corset?_ She found some wholly _gratifying_ in the idea. She let go of his hair and reached steady, delicate hands to her chest. The ribbons came undone, pulled gently from their eyes and the stiff material pulled apart with ease.

Link's fingers trembled as his fingered the delicate fabric on her shoulder, but Zelda remained patient and let him explore her flesh as the case rest finally fell behind her and she revealed herself to him.

"Beautiful." He kissed the space between her breast and breathed in the scene of her skin. "You're beautiful, Zelda."

Something deep and primal ignited with the mention of her birth name.

 _No one ever called her by her name and not her title._

Her hands dropped to his waist, lithe fingers trailing against the waistband of his leggings and the only remaining garment he wore. She felt the right muscles of his stomach wave and flutter under her delicate touch and it fueled her with a strength and desire to move on.

Without any more words between them, Zelda dipped her hands into the cotton and tugged. The beige material slid down his hips and pooled at his knees. He stood a moment to remove them and Zelda reacted likewise finally pulling the silky fabric of her panties down her legs and to the ground. Then he was standing in front her completely nude and watching her with a question in his eyes and hunger on his lips.

She adjusted herself to sit on the bed and recline back against the metal bars that made up a makeshift headboard. She reached out a hand to him and he laced their fingers.

" _Come."_ He followed her without argument, all slow movements and waiting breath and somehow he ended up kneeling on the bed with a knee at either side of the princess's hips and her miraculous legs bent high at either side of his chest.

He hesitated.

 _He was nervous._

"Link," she called his name and he met her eye, blue sinking into blue till it felt like their souls blended into one. Her hands reached out with fingers grazing glorious muscle and dips and curves of chest and stomach till they grazed his hot member and hissed loudly. Link dropped his head against hers with eyes pressed closed and lips slightly parted.

She stroked him gently, warm hands caressing velvety flesh tightening under her touch till she could feel the vein pulsing on his underside.

"Fuck, Zelda," he moaned softly as her thumb ran over the swollen head.

 _She loved the sound of her name in his voice._

Link kissed her finally. Hungry lips and adventurous tongue tasting and probing and exploring her mouth till she felt dizzy and lightheaded from all of him.

Fingers ran between her thighs and she trembled with want as one long finger slide between her moist flesh before his thumb found her clit and pressed lightly.

She curled against him and tightened her legs around his back. Link kissed her again and felt her moan into his mouth as her slowly circled the hard bud until the swelled and grew under his gentle ministrations.

He could feel her desire for him, a moisture that dropped between her folds and onto his fingers the longer he touched.

"Link, _please_ ," she begged. As divine as his fingers felt soft on her flesh and exploring her sex she didn't want him to tease her or nip her tonight. She just wanted _him_. All of _him_ , every long luxurious inch of his body and feel his skin against her own. _Just you,"_ she pleaded softly as she leaned her face higher in search of his lips. He kissed her again, her eyes fluttering closed and somewhere in the taste of his touch she finally felt his blunt tip press against her opening.

Their eyes locked, zelda wrapped her arm around her leg and closed her hand gently against Link's bicep.

He sank slowly into her warmth and she felt her body ignite in a fire that burned from her core to her toes with each delicious inch she took. His hips came flush with hers and Link dropped wormhole head with a silence gasp on his lips.

 _Even after all these times, it always felt even better than the last._

Zelda's fingers slowly streaked the golden half curls behind his neck and her nails lightly scraped his scalp as he adjusted within her core and gained his bearings. She kissed the corner of his mouth and felt him smile with the tender motion.

 _If he didn't move soon, he was going to fall asleep in the middle of it._

"Link, _move."_

He slowly pulled out of her body and hissed and the delicious way her body squeezed him. At the same time Zelda arched her neck back and unconsciously spread her legs wider till her knees were almost aligned with her soldiers.

Link had almost completely slipped out of her heat when he sank back into her, much swifter and steadily than he had the first time. She could feel her walls stretching to accommodate him, her body aflame and electric with energy each tie he thrust his hips forwards and buried himself deeper into her core.

 _She felt like her skin would melt right off her bones in the most heavenly way possible_.

"Oh Goddess," he grunted into her ear feeling the rhythm increasing with each movement. " _Zelda_."

She didn't trust her voice and felt her breath becoming more ragged the faster he began to move. Zelda pulled him closer still until his forehead pressed against hers and she could taste his breath with every exhale.

His rhythm quickened, and the faster he moved the harder her heart beat and the further back she pulled her legs and curled her toes until the warm pressure began to build in her lower belly.

Zelda felt herself closing her eyes to keep herself together and digging her nails deeper into Link's flesh the closer she spiraled and the tighter the pressure in her belly grew.

"Zelda," his breathy moan was strangled and broken and she felt his steadiness start to give. Hips bucked out of rhythm, jaw clenched right, she knew he was close.

In a last ditch effort to prolong his inevitable release and quicken hers, Link smashed his desperate mouth against hers and bit down hard on her lip at the same time that he gave such a powerful thrust, the entire bed shifted forward.

Zelda's shattered into a million pieces of blinding heat and light that echoed in her piercing cry. Her vision went white, body arched dramatically and legs shook violently as she clutched him with such an impressive force, Link only last through one more inhale and then tumbled over the edge with her.

Just as fast at they fell, they recovered. Zelda felt her head spin with the immeasurable force of her release but couldn't help but smile.

 _She hoped no one heard._

Link tried to avoid crushing his princess below him, but after their tryst and all the events of the day, he found in himself only enough energy to shift over for a moment for Zelda to slide down to a horizontal position and collapse ungracefully on her chest. Link moved his hips slightly over and slipped out of her body with a shaky inhale from Zelda and hiss from his own lips before relaxing once more.

 _He could lay like this forever._

"I think I'm going to love you forever," he mumbled into her warm flesh. His nose brushed plush skin of a breast and despite the ridiculousness of the image, Zelda felt a warmth in her heart at the sight. Link gave a long drawn out breath and she could almost feel him melt into unconsciousness.

"I think it was always meant to be."

Link's heartbeat slowed in his chest and breathing quieted to a steady rhythm and after several minutes of silence the princess was almost certain he had long fallen into slumber.

 _She didn't mind._

As quietly and steadily as she could muster, Zelda pulled the blanket from the floor where it had fallen beside her and attempted to drape it over their bodies as best she could without disturbing her hero's well deserved rest.

He didn't so much as flinch.

Finally warm with her beloved's weight on her and his warmth slowly seeping into her flesh, she felt herself starting to drift off too. Zelda was almost past the point of return and dreaming of moonlight and lake waters when she heard him mumble in his sleep.

" _Don't hide, Sheik."_


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The Queen's shoes clicked against the hard stone ground as she passed through narrow walkways overlooking the training grounds. She remembered the days without fondness where the expectation was that a Royal dress her best anytime she could be seen in the public eye. That often meant shoes that pinched her toes and blistered her feet and dressed or corsets so heavy and tight she needed four hands to take them off in the evening and a cooling salve to smooth away her blistered skin. Days like this where she no longer felt obligated to dress in heels and heavy skirts with tiaras that left a kink in her neck made her thankful for all the power her coronation granted her once she became _Queen Zelda of Hyrule._

 _So many changes, all for the better._

It was true. In the months following that night that the princess found Link in the abandoned keep, everything seemed to change rapidly. The war ended much quicker than anyone had expected. Despite protests, Zelda did not allow herself to sit idle while her men fought for her. She took up arms as well, clad in most of her Sheik garb but no longer with the falsified identity of a Sheikah warrior but as _Princess Zelda_ who'd been trained with exceptional skill by her Sheikah caretaker and personal guard. Before long the threats were vanquished and for the most part, peace was restored to the people of Hyrule.

Then the princess returned to the castle and preparations were planned for her royal coronation as queen. More changes happened. Tiaras were put away for smaller and lighter varieties, exuberant daily gowns and dresses diminished to smaller more comfortable and mobile garments. A new slew of young men were officially knighted, and one in particular brought to the rank of royal guard and head of the knights training.

Zelda was crowned. Three months later the Queen of Hyrule announced her engagement and plans for the most talked about and _scandalized_ wedding in Hyrule's history begun.

 _And she wouldn't change any of it._

"The Zoras are asking for confirmation that you'll still be coming to visit in the Spring for their Independence Festival." Impa walked close beside her, chin held high with with as much furious determination as ever. Yet there seemed to be something different about her; something just this side of _softer_ in her walk and voice. "And your husband as well, of course."

The royal beside her groaned with an exaggerated roll of her eyes and if it were any women besides Impa, they probably would have laughed at the young Queen's antics.

"Eventually you _are_ going to have to get used to that title," the Sheikah commented glancing for a moment at the royal walking beside her. "Link has seemed to grow into his soon-to-be-title nicely."

Zelda threw her partner a look that could burn down the best bridges in the kingdom, but the Sheikah remained unwaved, closing the notepad in her hands without another word as they rounded a corner. They stopped before a half-wall overlooking the far end of the training grounds. Below a group of 60 young men all dressed in training gear watched as their instructor — clad in green and royalty gold — demonstrated a variety of ways to carry and wield a sword.

"He really is good at his job," Impa commented upon seeing her Queen's distracted stare. Zelda smiled broadly, feeling a warmth glow in her gut and spread out over her skin until it tingled in her toes and fingertips. She watched the man below give a furious battle cry then slice the blade in hand through a solid wooden manakin as if it were made of gelatin. The bright sunlight above gleamed off the fine edge of his impressive blade and if she looked hard enough she could almost trace the lines of muscles in his arms.

The manakin fell to pieces to the ground and all of the young men in attendance applauded respectfully.

"I'm surprised it took you this long with the way you look at him."

Zelda smiled fondly. "Well it was important to me that I finish my coronation as Queen before I took him as my husband. He wouldn't be given a title otherwise and I think it appeases the kingdom that at least I'll be married to a _prince_ if not a king."

From down below her soon to be husband must have felt her stare because he chose that moment to look up and catch her eyes. The smile e gave her sent a warm weight straight to her stomach.

"You're right," Impa replied flatly. "But I was talking about the pregnancy."

Zelda's mouth fell open in shock with a deadly glare, finally earning a well-deserved smirk from the Sheikah leader beside her. "My Queen, I know _everything_."

Zelda just stared dumbstruck at the older woman's words. Impa walked around her and looped one long arm around the young woman she'd helped raise, pulling her to the side a moment. "Do you know how far along you are?"

Zelda groaned loudly and dropped her head against the Sheikah's shoulder in an over dramatic sign of defeat. "I was _so_ careful. Always mixed and took my elixirs the way you taught me."

"Clearly not."

The younger woman groaned again but composed herself enough to stand. She glanced back over the railing without releasing the other woman's arm and caught sight of her future _prince_ now going over a new maneuver.

"Have you told him yet?" Impa asked quietly as a guard passed behind them.

Zelda's frown was answer enough. "I'm almost positive it was during that trip to the Gerudo Desert four weeks ago. I didn't have my ingredients there." Zelda's voice had diminished to the size of a small child, partly out of privacy and partly out of embarrassment.

 _She'd also been especially distracted then by harsh sun and way too much exposed skin. What would the people say?_

"That works out perfectly."

Zelda's eyes flew to the Sheikah after such a comment. "Perfectly?" She questioned incredulously. "The Queen of Hyrule became pregnant out of wedlock and you are calling it _perfect?"_

Impa smiled. "You're getting married in three days. If we spin it off that you simply delivered your child a few weeks early, no one can argue that it didn't happen _on your honeymoon_."

Hmm. The Queen's ears almost _twitched_.

"Besides," Impa continued with her authoritative voice once more. "Right now your job is to marry your _Hero_ , and then we can worry about growing a happy, healthy baby." To prove her point she put her hand against the Queen's stomach for a moment in a protective and uncharacteristically warm movement for the Sheikah warrior. Impa smiled broadly before retracting her hand and then walking away back towards the castle doors.

Zelda stood there for a moment in attempts to catch her spinning head and unconsciously covering her very flat stomach where the Sheikah's hand had just been.

 _It's improper,_ she'd once thought when this whole relationship were just starting.

A loud, familiar whistle grabbed the young woman's attention and when she looked towards the source a familiar brilliant smile beckoned her towards _him_ with the characteristic devious smirk on his lips.

The queen smiled and bit her lip feeling that all too familiar tingle of excitement bubbling in his chest and warming her toes. She knew that look all too well.

 _Fuck propriety._

 ** _Author's Note:_**

Thanks for reading and please remember to leave your thoughts or wishes for future fics. I have a variety of oneshots coming up, with currently 2 completed and one underway. They are _all_ explicit and smutty, so stay tuned.


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